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The 

DRAGON'S  TEETH 

A  MYTHOLOGICAL  PROPHESY 
By 

T.  M.    SAMPLE 


"  Justice  to  tht  Laboring  Classes,  and  to  An  Advancinz  Civitization.  demands 
that  Money  be  put  upon  a  Ftrmanent,  Equitable.  Scientific  Basis. " 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  HUMANITY. 

A  Discussion  of  Ethical  and  Economical  Standards.      Protest.  Vfixaiaz, 
Saggestioa.     Alto  a  Treatise  on  the  Principles  for  a  Scientific  Money. 


BROADWAY    PUBLISHING    CO. 

835  Broadway y  New  York 

BRANCH  OFFICES:     CHICAGO.    WASHINGTON.    BALTIMORI. 
ATLANTA.  NQRFOLiC.  FLORENCE.  ALA. 


•Ia    c 


■^  -^ 


^\   j.r^Cy    ^"^  ^iMt-u<i 


Copyright,  1911, 

'/  :  •/:  \:       By  t.  m.  sample 


•     •  •  .  .. 

c      «       • 


<       •»        c       «c        «..••••  •        • 


DEDICATED 
TO  THE  HOMES  OF  AMERICA 

The  world  is  full  of  change,  and  "waxes  old 
As  garments  zvorn" ;  and  Time,  with  wrinkled  face 
And  shrunken  limbs,  the  footing  years  apace 

Treads  on,  and  leaves  behind  a  cank'ring  moidd. 

The  hills  are  naked,  and  with  gullies  rent; 

The  forest  from  the  woodman's  axe  recedes; 

The  brook  Hows  sullenly  'mid  tangled  weeds. 
Where  once  through  sunny  meads  it  laughing  went. 

The  friendly  faces  which  my  boyhood  knew. 
Long  since  liave  faded  from  the  earth  azvay; 
Remembered  are  they  still,  and  loved  for  aye;-^ 

I  find  no  other  friends  so  leal  and  true. 

The  old  farmhouse,  my  happy  boyhood  home! 
Fond  memories  of  youth  it  still  recalls; — 
Wild,  creeping  znncs  festoon  its  mouldering  walls ;'-^ 

The  broken  family  far  distant  roam.' 

I  pass  the  house  zvith  loiv-bowed  head,  and  seek 
The  orchard,  where  bright,  happy  days  were  spent; — 
A  few  old  trees,  now,  knotted,  knarled,  and  bent; — 

/  turn  away  with  heart  too  grieved  to  speak. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


46Q(>93 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I   A  Mythological  Prophesy 13 

II  Public  Ownership  of  Public  Utilities — 
Natural  Liberty  and  Civil  Liberty 
Defined  19 

III  Lessons  Taught  by  Labor  Strikes  ...         29 

IV  The  Administration  of  Law — The  Ju- 

diciary, "A  Thief  of  Jurisdiction"..         54 

V   Standard  Oil  at  the  Bar 69 

VI   Election  of  United  States  Senators  by 

Popular  Vote    89 

VII   Money— The  God  of  Gold iii 

VIII   The  Social  Necessity  for  Money 112 

IX   The  Popular   Conception  of  Money — 
Its  Influence  on  Morals — Uses  and 

Abuses 114 

X  "Interest,"  or  the  Reproductive  Power 
of  Money — Credit  and  Its  Danger- 
ous Temptations  to  the  Ambitious. .  121 
XI  Matrimonial  Markets — ^Waning  of 
Conjugal  Affection — Vice  and  Vir- 
tue Contrasted — Some  Compensa- 
tions  for  Poverty    128 

XII   Money  Kings   140 

XIII  Early  History  of  Money   146 

XIV  Our  National  Monetary  History   153 

XV  Establishment  of  the  Subtreasury. ...        175 

XVI  Review  of  State  Banking 176 


-/I'-r^lll    ;    ;SALUTATORY 

There  are  some  questions  which  appear  to  be  of 
paramount  social  interest ;  and  while  I  am  not  a  seer,  I 
have  given  to  these  questions  some  consideration  and 
thought;  so  please  sit  down  with  me,  and  we  will 
talk  them  over  together.  We  will  leave  out  all  sec- 
tarianism, all  political  partyism,  and  every  other  kind 
of  an  ism,  for  controversies  on  those  things  mar  the 
most  sacred  of  friendships,  destroy  the  unity  and  har- 
mony of  social  life,  and  only  hinder  progress  and 
reform. 

While  I  am  profoundly  grieved  at  the  great  in- 
equalities in  life,  the  misery  and  injustice  of  it  all,  I 
write  not  in  bitterness,  but  in  the  most  kindly  spirit. 
I  will  not  intentionally  say  anything  to  hurt  your  feel- 
ings. You  have  your  cherished  beliefs  and  predilec- 
tions, I  have  mine ;  and  I  have  the  greatest  respect 
for  your  honest  convictions,  no  matter  what  they  are ; 
so  please  remember,  that  whatever  I  may  say,  it  is  only 
my  opinion,  belief,  or  idea,  in  which  I  may  be  wrong; 
and  I  accord  to  you  the  fullest  liberty  to  entertain  an 
Y  opposite;  in  fact,  honest  criticism  is  necessary  to  the 
understanding  of  any  subject. 

Many  able  men  have  written  on  social  questions.  It 
is  the  oldest  of  all  subjects.  Much  of  what  has  been 
written  is  only  the  fanciful  chimeras  of  excited  imag- 
inations. In  what  I  shall  attempt  to  say,  I  mean  to  be 
as  practical  and  philosophical  as  possible,  but  never 
dogmatical.  With  advancing  age  I  have  less  and  less 
patience  with  dogmatical  teachers  on  any  scientific  sub- 
ject the  solution  of  which  depends  on  human  wisdom 
alone. 

I  purpose  to  stay  in  a  perfectly  good  humor,  and 
I  want  you  to  do  the  same. 

If  I  were  writing  for  fame,  I  might  try  to  em- 
ploy eloquent  phraseology;  but  since  I  have  not  that 
object  in  view,  I  shall  only  use  plain,  every-day  Eng- 

8 


SALUTATORY 

lish,  and  you  will  not  need  a  dictionary  to  under- 
stand me. 

I  do  not  claim  complete  originality  in  what  follows 
in  this  book.  Perfect  originality  is  rare,  if  not  im- 
possible. I  have  read  some  of  the  writings  of  vari- 
ous authors;  and  have  so  incorporated  with  my  own, 
ideas  received  from  them,  till  I  am  no  longer  able 
to  make  a  distinction  without  rereading  the  same  au- 
thors, and  that  I  have  not  time  to  do.  In  some  in- 
stances I  may  appear  to  be  a  plagiarist;  but  if  so,  it 
will  be  accidental,  and  not  intentional. 

We  are  both  citizens  of  the  same  great  country. 
Whatever  public  policy  affects  you,  affects  me ;  what- 
ever is  for  your  ultimate  best  interests  is  for  mine 
also. 

Now,  just  for  you  and  me,  personally,  it  little  mat- 
ters what  kind  of  a  civic  policy  dominates,  or  what 
kind  of  a  government  we  have;  for  those  changes 
which  permanently  affect  the  social  and  industrial  life 
of  a  people  usually  come  so  slow,  and  the  alterations 
made  in  one  lifetime  appear  so  small  as  to  be  scarcely 
noticeable,  unless  we  stop  and  carefully  compare  pres- 
ent with  former  conditions.  As  men  become  inured 
to  circumstances  and  environment,  they  become  cal- 
loused with  indifference.  Before  any  great  social 
change  is  wrought,  the  curtain  will  be  rung  down  for 
you  and  me,  and  other  actors,  another  generation  will 
come  on  the  stage ;  but  while  we  are  performing  our 
little  parts,  let  us  examine  what  is  being  put  on  the 
boards  for  the  next  act,  the  one  our  children  will 
have  to  play. 

Our  fathers,  by  indomitable  courage  and  patient 
industry,  converted  a  savage  wilderness  into  a  fruitful 
and  peaceful  habitation ;  they  planted  here  the  tree  of 
Civil  Liberty  and  watered  it  with  patriot  blood;  they 
threw  off   forever   the  yoke   of   foreign  aggression 

9 


SALUTATORY 

and  oppression,  and  established  a  free,  representative 
government  composed  of  sovereign  citizens,  and  guar- 
anteed in  a  sacred  written  compact,  called  the  Con- 
stitution, certain  inalienable  civil  rights  to  every  in- 
dividual citizen  that  must  not  be  violated.  The  Con- 
stitution, and  the  laws  based  upon  it,  recognize  no 
classes  among  our  citizenship;  all  are  equal  before 
the  law. 

The  law  of  Equal  rights  released  the  mind, 
Unfettered  spirit,  burst  the  bars  of  Fate, 

That  class  distinctions  might  no  longer  bind, 
That  only  the  deserving  may  be  great. 

Thus  our  fathers  laid  the  foundation  of  our  Gov- 
ernment wisely  and  well,  and  the  greatest  nation 
the  world  has  ever  seen  has  been  built  upon  that 
foundation.  We  are  the  heirs  of  this  inestimable 
estate.  Our  children  will  heir  it  after  us ;  and  it  is 
our  sacred  duty  to  transmit  it  to  them  unimpaired 
and  unencumbered.  Our  natural  resources,  though 
great,  are  not  inexhaustible  ;  and  our  precious  liberties, 
though  placed  in  our  own  keeping,  may  be  abridged, 
if  not  destroyed,  by  greed  and  class  aggression.  Our 
wealth  of  forest  and  mine,  of  valley  and  stream,  should 
be  conserved  and  preserved ;  every  aggression  prompted 
by  avarice  and  greed  must  be  effectually  put  down; 
and,  more  than  all,  the  sterling  qualities  of  justice, 
honor,  and  fair-dealing,  both  in  private  and  public 
life,  must  be  given  to  our  children  as  the  best  part 
of   their   inheritance. 

I  bear  no  hatred  against  any  man,  or  class  of  men. 
While  my  views  may  be  at  variance  with  those  enter- 
tained by  many  of  my  fellowmen,  and  even  opposed  to 
their  conduct  and  policies,  it  is  in  a  kindly  tolerant 

lO 


SALUTATORY 

spirit  that  I  present  my  opinions  on  vital  public  ques- 
tions. 

Hereafter,  I  will  less  frequently  use  the  personal 
pronoun ;  though  in  my  book,  I  like  to  feel  that  I  am 
a  man  talking  to  other  men  who  have  like  thoughts, 
feelings,  and  sentiments. 

What  follows  in  this  book  is  intended  to  be  strictly 
confined  to  the  physical  well-being  of  man  in  the  social 
state,  except  that  there  is  a  twilight  zone  between  the 
physical  and  spiritual  that  must  be  touched  upon  in 
treating  of  either;  but  these  are  only  touches  occa- 
sioned by  the  necessity  of  the  subject.  The  expound- 
ing of  spiritual  Truth  belongs  to  Apostolic  authority. 

When  a  man  builds  as  ordinary  a  structure  as  a 
house,  he  builds  it  by  some  plan;  in  like  manner,  the 
character  of  an  individual,  or  of  a  people,  is  fashioned 
after  certain  standards,  true  or  false.  It  has  been  my 
conscientious  endeavor  to  make  a  philosophical  distinc- 
tion between  the  standards  of  human  conduct  affect- 
ing the  well-being  of  man  in  civilized  society,  to  ex- 
pose the  false,  and  to  indicate  the  true. 

The  Author. 


SD 


The  Dragon's  Teeth 

CHAPTER  I. 

A  MYTHOLOGICAL  PROPHESY. 

Grecian  mythology  relates  that  when  Jupiter,  in 
the  disguise  of  a  white  bull,  abducted  Europa,  the  fair 
and  favorite  daughter  of  Agenor,  the  father  was  so 
affected  by  grief  that  he  rent  his  garments,  and  or- 
dered his  three  sons,  Cadmus,  Phoenix,  and  Cilix  to 
go  forth  and  seek  her.  The  three  sons,  accompanied 
by  their  mother,  Telephassa,  started  out  in  search  of 
their  lost  sister,  inquiring  of  all  they  met  if  they  had 
seen  her. 

At  last,  weary  of  the  hopeless  quest,  two  of  the 
brothers.  Phoenix  and  Cilix,  abandoned  their  trav- 
els and  settled  in  countries  that  afterward  took  their 
names.  Finally,  after  all  the  vain  and  weary  wan- 
derings in  strange  lands,  Telephassa,  the  mother,  worn 
out  with  grief  and  fatigue,  lay  down  to  die,  charging 
her  oldest  son,  Cadmus,  to  go  on  alone. 

Cadmus  wandered  on  till  he  came  to  Delphi,  where 
he  consulted  the  oracle ;  but,  to  his  great  dismay,  the 
only  reply  he  received  was,  "Follow  the  cow,  and  settle 
where  she  rests."  In  deep  perplexity  he  left  the  temple, 
and  from  force  of  habit,  journeyed  on,  patiently  ques- 
tioning all  he  met.  Soon  he  perceived  a  cow  leisurely 
walking  in  front  of  him,  and  mindful  of  the  oracle, 
he  gave  up  the  search  for  his  sister,  and  followed 
the  cow. 

The  novel  spectacle  of  a  man  following  a  cow  across 
the  country,  and  his  strange  reasons  for  doing  so,  at- 

13 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

tracted  attention  and  excited  curiosity.  A  number 
of  adventurous  persons  became  his  companions  on  the 
way,  and,  when  the  cow  at  last  lay  down  in  the  land 
since  called  Boeotia,  they  all  promised  Cadmus,  their 
chosen  leader,  to  help  him  found  their  future  capital, 
which  was  to  be  called  Thebes. 

Parched  with  thirst  after  their  long  and  toilsome 
journey,  the  men  hastened  to  a  neighboring  spring 
to  drink;  but,  to  Cadmus'  surprise,  time  passed,  and 
still  his  companions  did  not  return.  At  length,  armed 
with  his  trusty  sword,  he  went  himself  to  the  spring 
to  discover  the  cause  of  their  delay,  and  found  that 
they  had  been  devoured  by  a  huge  dragon.  Cadmus 
raised  his  sword  to  avenge  their  death,  and  killed 
the  dragon  by  a  well-directed  blow  on  its  head. 

While  Cadmus  stood  there  contemplating  his  life- 
less foe,  a  voice  bade  him  extract  the  dragon's  teeth, 
and  sow  them  in  the  ground  already  broken  for  his 
future  city.  No  human  being  was  within  sight:  so 
Cadmus  knew  the  order  proceeded  from  the  immortal 
gods,  and  immediately  obeyed.  The  dragon's  teeth 
were  no  sooner  planted  than  a  crop  of  giants  sprang 
from  the  soil,  of  immense  and  terrorizing  stature, 
and  panoplied  for  battle.  They  were  about  to  fall 
upon  Cadmus,  when  the  same  voice  bade  him  cast  a 
stone  among  them.  Cadmus,  seeing  the  giants  were 
almost  upon  him,  and  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost, 
quickly  threw  a  stone.  The  effect  produced  was  al- 
most instantaneous;  for  the  giants,  each  fancying  it 
had  been  thrown  by  his  neighbor,  began  fighting  among 
themselves.  In  a  very  short  time  the  number  of  giants 
was  reduced  to  five,  who  were  constrained  to  sheathe 
their  bloodstained  weapons,  and  humbly  tender  their 
service  to   Cadmus. 

With  their  aid,  the  foundations  of  the  city  were 
laid;  then  the  gods  lent  their  assistance,  and  caused 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

many  of  the  public  buildings,  amazing  in  their  beauty 
and  perfection  of  architecture,  to  rise  up  out  of  the 
ground;  Jupiter  sent  Amphion,  and  while  the  immor- 
tal musician  played  on  his  lute,  the  stones  waltzed 
into  place  of  their  own  accord,  and  soon  beautiful, 
god-built  Thebes  was  walled  and  finished  in  beauty 
and  marvelous  splendor.  Jupiter  gave  Cadmus  for  a 
wife,  Harmonia,  the  gentle  daughter  of  Mars  and 
Venus,  and  contentment,  peace,  and  happiness  filled 
the  city  and  all  the  land  of  Boeotia. 

The  dragon,  that  Cadmus  slew,  had  devoured  the 
people;  the  teeth  of  the  dragon,  when  sown  in  the 
soil,  immediately  sprang  up  great  giants,  because, 
planted  in  the  soil,  they  absorbed  the  produce  of  the 
earth,  which  accounted  for  their  rapid  and  phenome- 
nal growth. 

When  the  giants  attained  their  full  stature,  Cadmus, 
who  represented  the  people,  was  in  more  danger  from 
them  than  he  had  been  from  the  dragon.  Cadmus 
could  slay  a  dragon ;  but  he  was  powerless  to  con- 
tend with  a  host  of  giants ;  he  made  no  attempt  to 
fight  them  as  he  had  the  dragon,  but  in  obedience  to 
the  command  of  the  immortal  gods,  he  provoked  them 
to  fight  each  other,  and  thus  caused  their  own  self- 
slaughter.  After  the  conflict  of  the  giants  was  ended, 
and  there  remained  only  five  of  their  number,  Cad- 
mus, very  wisely,  made  no  effort  to  destroy  them,  but 
reduced  them  to  obedience,  and  employed  them  in  the 
service  of  the  people. 

As  an  allegory,  the  dragon  in  the  story  represented 
the  assumed  divine  right  of  kings  to  rule  and  the  arro- 
gation  of  superiority  and  special  privileges  by  the 
aristocracy  attached  thereto.  The  teeth  of  the  dragon 
typified  the  several  powers  of  government  which  were 
used  by  the  kings  and  the  aristocracy  for  their  own 
benefit  and  the  oppression  of  the  people, — for  the  en- 

15 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

richment  of  the  few  by  the  impoverishment  of  the 
many. 

The  law-making  power,  the  administration  of 
law,  the  military  and  police  authorities,  public  utilities, 
and  money,  constituted  the  five  principal  powers  of 
government  that,  at  that  time,  were  held  exclusively  by 
the  king;  these,  together  with  numerous  special  privi- 
leges granted  to  the  aristocracy,  were  the  teeth  of 
the  dragon.  Cadmus  represented  the  people  who  had 
been  crushed  and  devoured  by  the  royal-aristocratic 
system.  Special  privileges  in  the  use  of  public  utilities 
composed  the  larger  number  of  the  dragon's  teeth — 
the  molars — used  in  a  grinding  process  of  oppression ; 
the  other  powers  of  government  were  employed  as 
the  incisors,  to  separate,  divide,  and  make  ready  for 
delicious  mastication  by  the  molars  the  choicest  mor- 
sels of  the  people's  production  to  appease  the  dragon's 
insatiable  appetite ;  money  was  made  the  cuspidated 
tusks  of  the  dragon  by  which  it  seized  and  held  its 
victims. 

As  a  prophesy,  this  mythological  story  describes 
the  history  of  this  government  up  to  the  present  time 
with  amazing  accuracy.  The  first  immigrants  to  this 
country,  who  had  fled  the  oppression  of  the  Old 
World,  had  hardly  settled  in  their  new  home  before 
the  dragon  thrust  his  hated  head  across  the  Atlantic. 
Oppression  began,  and  the  virgin  soil  of  the  New 
World  was  baptized  with  blood.  Washington,  the 
Cadmus  of  America,  representing  the  people,  dealt 
the  "Divine  right,"  or  any  other  kind  of  a  right  of 
kings  to  rule,  a  fatal  blow  so  far  as  this  country 
was  concerned ;  but  in  establishing  a  new  government, 
the  dragon's  teeth,  the  necessary  powers  of  govern- 
ment, particularly  those  of  money  and  public  utilities, 
were  sown  broadcast,  and  left  to  private  control. 
Thus  the  public  service  was  surrendered  to  private 

i6 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

corporations.  Individual  liberty,  which  had  been  pur- 
chased with  the  effusion  of  patriot  blood,  appeared 
to  demand  that  this  be  done,  that  there  might  be  the 
least  possible  interference  therewith.  The  danger  that 
personal  liberties  might  be  destroyed  by  special  privi- 
leges, unless  the  superior  claims  of  society  were  first 
recognized,  preserved,  and  maintained,  was  over- 
looked. 

Special  privileges,  in  the  form  of  grants,  patents, 
charters,  and  franchises  in  the  land  and  mineral  rights 
of  the  public  domain,  in  mines,  in  the  public  carrier 
service,  in  water  plants,  in  power  plants,  in  street 
railways,  in  electric  and  gas  lighting,  in  the  telegraph 
and  telephone,  finally  in  the  manufacture  and  handling 
of  agricultural  and  timber  products,  were  given  to 
private  corporations  unconditionally  and  without  con- 
sideration under  the  plea  of  public  necessity,  the  settle- 
ment of  unoccupied  lands,  and  the  development  of 
natural  resources. 

Soon  after  the  invention  of  the  steam  engine,  rail- 
road companies  began  to  form  everywhere.  When 
one  railroad  was  built,  another  was  applied  for  on 
the  excuse  of  building  a  competing  line, — the  people 
never  dreaming  that  they  would  pool  their  interests 
so  as  to  swell  their  dividends  from  the  profits  of 
production. 

Manufacture  stimulated  invention,  but  all  the  won- 
derful labor-saving  machinery  invented  by  American 
genius  was  grasped  by  the  corporations,  and  em- 
ployed by  them  to  increase  their  profits. 

Sown  in  the  fallow  soil  of  private  rights,  the 
dragon's  teeth  sprang  at  once  into  colossal  giants. 

Corporation  development  had  been  going  on  all 
the  time  with  constantly  accelerated  growth,  but  the 
corresponding  progress  and  improvement  of  a  new 
country,   rich  in  natural  resources,  engaged  the  at- 

17 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

tenticn  of  the  people,  and  the  menacing  size  and 
character  of  corporations  remained  for  a  long  time 
unnoticed  by  them;  in  fact,  they  encouraged  their 
formation,  believing  they  were  encouraging  what  is 
called  "investment  of  capital,"  that  would  bring  money 
into  the  country, — and  they  sowed  the  dragon's  teeth 
with  willing  hands. 

For  the  first  hundred  years  of  our  Republic,  private 
corporations  did  assist  in  the  country's  development, 
in  the  increase  of  material  wealth  and  comfort,  not- 
withstanding their  criminal  waste  of  the  natural  re- 
sources. Their  menacing  magnitude,  character,  and 
power  was  not  discovered  by  the  people  till  about  the 
year  1890.  At  that  time  there  were  numerous  great 
corporations,  but  no  big  trusts,  as  exist  now;  nor 
had  they  ever  attempted  to  control  prices  as  the  trusts 
are  doing  to-day.  Their  methods  had  been  more 
legitimate.  Stock-watering,  and  high-financiering, 
had  not  been  practiced  to  any  considerable  extent ;  but 
the  people  became  alarmed  at  last,  chiefly  by  the 
attitude  of  the  public  carriers — the  railroads — and  the 
result  was  the  passage  by  the  Congress  of  the  Act 
entitled,  "The  Sherman  Anti-Trust  Law."  That  was 
the  stone  cast  among  the  giants.  They  began  immedi- 
ately thereafter  to  form  mergers.  The  lesser  rivals 
were  either  absorbed  or  destroyed;  hence  arose  the 
great  trusts  of  to-day,  who  control  money,  labor,  the 
prices  on  all  commodities,  and  have  raised  the  cost 
of  living  till  the  very  life  of  the  people  is  threatened; 
and  their  power  is  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  economic 
system  of  the  country,  that,  if  any  serious  attempt 
is  made  by  legislation  and  the  administration  of  law 
\  to  restrain  them,  they  retaliate  upon  the  people  by 
causing   business   and   financial   depression. 

The  time  employed  in  fighting  the  trusts  is  time 
lost.    To  contend  with  them  is  useless.    Cadmus  did 

18 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

not  fight  the  giants,  but  when  their  number  was  re- 
duced to  five,  representative  of  the  five  great  neces- 
sary powers  of  government,  he  took  them  over  bodily, 
and  employed  them  in  the  service  of  the  people.  Had 
he  crippled,  or  injured  them,  he  would  have  lessened 
their  ability  for  public  service.  So  the  thing  to  do 
is  (for  the  Government,  because  the  superior  claims 
and  welfare  of  society  demand  it),  to  take  corporal 
possession  of  the  trusts,  and  reduce  the  public  service 
to  a  service  of  all  the  people.  Then,  the  five  great 
giants  of  government,  made  subject  to  popular  will, 
would  lay  the  foundations  of  a  perdurable  prosperity. 
The  produce  of  the  soil,  and  the  products  of  men's 
hands,  no  longer  wasted  and  misapplied,  the  barren 
places  of  the  earth  would  bourgeon  into  beauty  and 
bloom.  Amphion,  the  divine  musician,  would  return, 
making  melody  in  the  hearts  of  a  contented  and  pros- 
perous people,  and  build  the  walls  of  a  perfect  peace. 
The  gentle  Harmonia  would  again  leave  the  skies,  and 
become  the  consort  of  human  happiness. 


CHAPTER  II. 

PUBLIC    OWNERSHIP     OF    PUBLIC     UTILITIES — NATURAL 
LIBERTY  AND  CIVIL   LIBERTY  DEFINED 

While  it  is  true  that  we  should  think  considerately 
and  well  before  we  make  any  departure  from  a  law  or 
principle  founded  in  the  combined  wisdom  of  the  best 
and  wisest  men,  and  stamped  with  the  approval  of 
centuries  of  the  best  thought,  observation,  and  ex- 
perience; it  is  equally  true  that  in  the  evolution  of 
governmental  policies  and  social  ethics,  new  condi- 
tions are  evolved,  which  the  old  philosophies  will  not 
solve. 

19 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Corporations,  combines  of  labor  and  capital,  con- 
front society  with  a  new  condition,  fraught  with 
grave  consequences,  which  has  to  be  met  and  solved. 

From  the  time  of  primitive  man,  when  each  one, 
independently,  pursued  his  own  will,  on  down  through 
the  ages,  the  gradual  evolution  of  ethics  in  civilized 
society  has  been  embodied  in  Civil  Law,  defining  the 
rights  of  society  and  the  individual  citizen;  but  a 
strange  creature  has  walked  in  upon  the  stage  of  hu- 
man endeavor — a  colossal  giant — the  corporation — de- 
fined in  law  "a  fictitious  person,"  embodying  in  one 
organized  body  of  men  the  combined  powers  of  many. 
Greed  laid  the  egg  that  hatched  out  this  giant  in 
the  nest  of  common  rights.  Up  to  this  time  it  has 
been  fed  with  everything  to  nurture  its  growth  and 
increase  its  power.  The  Government  has  passed  nu- 
merous laws  for  its  particular  benefit,  and  an  inventive 
age  has  furnished  it  with  machinery  to  wonderfully 
augment  production  for  its  own  enrichment,  and  the 
people  find  themselves  crowded  out  of  the  nest. 

When  men  first  organized  themselves  into  society, 
there  had  to  be  some  recognition  of  other  than  indi- 
vidual claims.  As  progress  has  been  made  in  the 
social  state,  Civil  Law  has  been  evolved  from  the 
needs  and  requirements  of  social  and  business  rela- 
tions, and  Civil  Liberty  has  taken  the  place  of  Natu- 
ral Liberty.  Civil  Law  discovers  and  defends  the 
principles  of  public  justice,  whereby  the  personal  lib- 
erties of  all,  not  in  conflict  therewith,  are  protected. 
Under  Civil  Liberty,  society  has  rights  of  its  own, 
which  are  paramount,  and  which  each  individual  must 
regard  and  respect.  Personal  liberty  can  only  be 
exercised  within  the  limit  that  Civil  Liberty  pre- 
scribes; but  the  Civil  Law,  which  governs  and  pro- 
tects society,  also  protects  the  individual  in  the  proper 
use  and  enjoyment  of  his  personal  liberties.    Natural 

20 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

liberty,  such  as  the  savage  had, — that  is,  freedom  to 
act  as  the  individual  will  may  dictate  without  regard  to 
the  effect  such  action  may  have  on  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  others, — cannot  exist  in  civilized  society. 

Common  law,  and  statutory  law,  express  the  com- 
bined wisdom  and  experience  of  lawmakers  who  have 
lived  and  legislated  in  the  different  ages  and  countries 
of  civilized  mankind.  The  progress  has  been  slow  ;  for 
nothing  of  substantial  and  enduring  worth  is  of 
ephemeral  growth.  The  science  of  geology  informs 
us  that  the  earth  was  ages  in  attaining  its  present 
form;  in  like  manner,  the  social  development  of  man 
has  been  the  gradual  unfolding,  understanding,  and 
practical  application  of  true  ethical  principles. 

Progress  and  innovation  are  two  very  different  and 
distinct  things.  Progress,  which  is  stable  and  lasting, 
builds  securely  upon  the  bed-rock  foundations,  which 
have  already  been  laid;  innovation  would  tear  down 
the  old  edifice  which  has  been  centuries  in  building, 
and  erect  instead  a  structure  of  its  own  on  a  founda- 
tion of  sand. 

Human  knowledge,  science,  and  law,  have  made 
marvelous  advancement,  and  will  continue  to  do  so; 
but  the  progress,  in  the  main,  has  been  by  the  slow 
processes  of  accretion  and  growth;  yet,  there  have 
been  times  when  moral  and  social  changes  in  govern- 
ment and  society  appeared  to  come  with  great  sud- 
denness; but  if  we  examine  antecedent  conditions  we 
shall  find  that  the  moral  forces  causing  them  had 
been  long  developing.  It  is  during  the  bright,  calm 
days  that  the  sun's  calorific  rays  are  stored  in  the 
bosom  of  ether  in  potential  energy,  where  their 
mighty  power  remains  unseen  and  unappreciated  till 
some  strong  electrical  current  disturbs  their  equi- 
librium, when  their  dynamic  force  suddenly  breaks 
forth  in  the  fury  of  the  tempest,  setting  in  irresistible 

21 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

motion  the  winds  that  level  the  forests  to  the  ground, 
or  lash  the  surface  of  the  ocean  into  surging  billows ; 
so,  sometimes,  moral  forces  accumulate  energy  quietly 
and  unobserved — their  potentiality  unappreciated,  save 
by  a  few  students  of  social  events;  in  the  fullness  of 
time,  they  break  forth  in  revolution  with  the  sudden- 
ness and  irresistibleness  of  a  storm,  and  a  great  change 
is  wrought  in  a  brief  period  of  time.  Certain  forces 
have  long  been  at  work  in  our  Government  which  will 
inevitably  cause  a  revolution.  We  hope  it  will  be 
peaceful  and  bloodless ;  but  who  can  tell  ? 

Liberty,  whose  divine  loveliness  woke  to  melody  the 
souls  of  great  poets,  and  enraptured  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  men,  was  Heaven-born ;  and  wherever  she 
has  been  crowned,  the  beautiful  pillars  of  her  throne 
are  justice  and  equality  before  the  law. 

Many  things  taught  in  the  name  of  Liberty  put  her 
to  shame ;  because  they  are  only  pleas  for  an  un- 
righteous and  dishonest  license,  for  the  grant  of  priv- 
ileges and  immunities  without  regard  to  the  claims 
of  right  and  justice.  The  foul-mouthed  anarchist 
speaks  in  the  name  of  Liberty,  but  his  teaching,  if 
adopted,  would  destroy  organized  society,  and  put 
mankind  back  into  a  state  of  savagery ;  even  their 
natural  liberties,  which  anarchists  so  much  desire, 
would  be  at  the  mercy  and  caprice  of  their  savage, 
unrestrained,  lawless  neighbors ;  life,  and  personal 
peace  would  be  in  constant  jeopardy;  the  peaceful  and 
undisturbed  possession  of  property  would  be  impossi- 
ble; justice  would  be  disregarded,  for  law  could  not 
exist;  the  arts  and  sciences  would  be  neglected  and 
forgotten,  and  every  noble  impulse  and  aspiration  of 
men  for  better  things  would  be  crushed. 

The  principles  of  right  and  justice  never  change. 
The  things  which  justice  required  in  the  relations  and 
dealings  of  men  in  the  beginning  of  organized  so- 

22 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ciety,  are  as  necessary  now  as  they  were  then.  While 
statute  has  been  added  to  statute  in  the  body  of  our 
statutory  laws,  until  they  have  become  complicated, 
intricate,  and  involved,  really,  the  elemental  principles 
of  right  and  justice  are  few  and  simple;  but  the  com- 
plicated, involved  nature  of  our  statutory  laws  are  fre- 
quently employed  to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice — the 
very  things  they  are  supposed  to  secure.  Often,  while 
lawyers  are  engaged  in  a  fine  sword-play  with  statu- 
tory laws,  wrong  triumphs  over  right,  crime  goes  un- 
punished, and  the  people  lose  confidence  in  the  integ- 
rity of  the  courts.  It  would  be  a  good  thing  if  about 
nine-tenths  of  the  statutory  laws  of  our  country  were 
committed  to  the  flames ;  for  we  have  too  many  laws. 

The  great  Common  Law,  founded  in  the  conscience, 
experience,  and  relations  of  mankind  to  each  other  in 
civilized  society,  has  been  a  slow,  accretive  growth. 
One  by  one  the  principles  of  right  and  justice  have 
been  discovered,  established,  and  applied.  The  sub- 
limest  expression  of  the  common  law  is  phrased  in 
the  Bill  of  Rights  in  our  National  Constitution,  which 
guarantees  to  each  citizen  the  inalienable  right  to 
"Life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness" ;  and  the 
right  of  trial  by  a  jury  of  his  peers. 

The  laws  need  to  be  justly  and  impartially  en- 
forced. An  unjust  or  partial  administration  of  law 
destroys  confidence  in  the  honesty  of  those  who  ad- 
minister it,  and  creates  a  contempt,  a  disrespect,  and 
a  disregard  for  all  law.  Justice,  like  its  Divine  Au- 
thor, "is  no  respecter  of  persons,"  and  demands  that 
all  should  stand  equal  before  the  law. 

The  causes  for  some  of  the  delinquencies  in  our  ad- 
ministration of  justice  are  an  indefinite  understand- 
ing and  misapprehension  of  the  several  legitimate  pow- 
ers of  the  separate  departments  of  government,  jeal- 
ousy  of  local   and   "States'   Rights";   but  the   chief 

23 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

causation  is  the  corrupting  influence  of  corporations. 

Federation  is  the  central  idea  of  constitutional  gov- 
ernment. Our  Government  is  particularly  built  upon 
the  federal  principle.  The  Civil  District,  or  Town- 
ships, are  federated  into  counties;  the  counties,  into 
States,  organized  under  separate  constitutions ;  and  the 
States,  into  one  grand  Union  of  States,  under  the 
Federal  Constitution.  The  primary  intention  of  our 
Government  was  to  accord  to  every  citizen  the  fullest 
measure  of  personal  liberty  not  in  conflict  with  the 
rights  of  society ;  and  to  give  to  local  communities  the 
undisputed  privilege  to  control  their  own  local  mat- 
ters. Everything,  which  affects  only  the  local  inter- 
ests of  a  community,  should  be  under  local  control; 
everything  which  affects  only  the  particular  interests 
of  a  city,  should  be  under  municipal  authority ;  every- 
thing which  affects  only  the  interests  of  a  State,  within 
the  State,  should  be  under  State  regulation ;  but  every- 
thing else,  which  by  its  nature,  effects,  or  influence, 
goes  outside  of  a  State,  and  affects  the  whole  people 
as  a  nation,  should  be  under  National  supervision; 
to  the  end  that  individualism  may  be  restrained,  ex- 
tortion and  discrimination  prevented,  and  the  tyranni- 
cal abuse  of  power  prohibited.  Whatever  affects  the 
national  interests,  can  only  be  properly  and  efficiently 
controlled  by  the  National  Government.  The  time 
has  come  when  public  interests  must  be  controlled  by 
the  public  for  the  Common  Good. 

The  time  has  been  when  efficient  public  control 
might  have  been  had  without  public  ownership,  when 
corporations  were  in  the  nascent  period  of  their  ex- 
istence, before  they  attained  their  colossal  magnitude 
and  power.  We  are  free  to  admit  that,  at  the  first, 
it  was  not  the  intention  of  our  Government  to  be  a 
property  owner  except  so  far  as  was  necessary  to  the 
enforcement  of  its  supervisional  regulations  in  times 

24 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

of  peace  or  military  authority  in  times  of  war.  Evi- 
dently the  intention  was  that  the  people  should  own 
the  property,  and  that  the  Government  would  pro- 
tect them  in  their  civil  rights  and  personal  posses- 
sions ;  but  it  failed  in  its  protection  by  allowing  the 
corporations  to  take  away  from  the  people  their  right- 
ful heritage.  The  Government  is  under  just  obliga- 
tion to  the  people  to  restore  that  which  has  unjustly 
been  taken  away.  This  it  must  do,  or  fail  in  the  chief- 
est  aim  for  which  it  was  created.  The  question  is  not 
whether  it  should  be  done,  but  how  to  do  it  best  and 
most  equitably  with  the  least  disturbance  to  honest 
property  rights,  the  integrity  of  which  must  be  main- 
tained. 

The  first  blessing  secured  to  mankind  by  Civil  Lib- 
erty was  the  right  to  honestly  acquire  property,  and 
hold  it  in  peaceful,  undisturbed  possession.  The  cor- 
porations advoke  to  their  aid  this  truth,  and  proclaim 
that  nothing  must  be  done  to  violate  the  "Sacred 
rights  of  property,"  that  they  may  peacefully  enjoy 
their  illgotten  gain.  Has  a  robber  any  "Sacred  rights 
in  property"  which  he  has  acquired  by  theft?  Most 
emphatically,  no.  The  "Sacred  rights  to  property" 
are  vested  in  the  ones  to  whom  it  justly  belongs. 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  that  our  Government  should  be  purely 
supervisional  in  character,  and  that  each  individual 
citizen,  and  his  honestly  acquired  property,  should 
be  under  its  authority  and  protection.  At  that  time, 
there  were  no  railroads,  no  telegraph,  no  street  car 
lines,  no  large  mines  opened  up,  no  great  furnaces  or 
factories  in  operation,  and  that  man-made  giant,  the 
corporation,  had  not  come  into  existence.  The  hon- 
ored founders  of  our  Government  were  wise  men ;  but 
they  could  not  foresee  these  things,  nor  the  dangers 
to  the  public  interest  which  the  corporation  would  en- 

25 


( 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

tail;  they  could  not  foresee  the  wonderful  inventions 
of  labor-saving  machinery  soon  to  be  made,  else  they 
would  have  made  provision  to  secure  their  benefits  to 
the  people ;  and  the  lack  of  that  foresight  allowed  this 
machinery  to  come  under  the  ownership  and  control 
of  the  corporation  manufacturer,  who  has  received  all 
the  benefits  of  increased  production  in  the  form  of 
immense  money  profits,  while  the  people,  instead  of 
being  benefited,  have  been  impoverished,  and  the  op- 
portunities for  remunerative  employment  greatly  re- 
duced ;  they  could  not  foresee  that  these  things  would 
cause  combines  of  class  interests,  capital  against  labor, 
and  labor  against  capital,  subversive  and  destructive 
of  democratic  government ;  they  could  not  foresee  that 
the  natural  wealth  of  the  country  would  be  wrested 
from  the  people,  its  rightful  owners,  and  appropriated, 
wasted,  and  depleted  by  corporate  greed.  Heedlessly, 
they  sowed  the  dragon's  teeth.  H,  when  franchises 
to  corporations  were  first  granted,  the  Government 
had  retained  and  maintained  full  control  over  them, 
the  public  interests  would  have  been  conserved  and 
protected;  but  since  it  failed  to  do  this,  corporations 
took  advantage  of  every  means  to  increase  their  power 
until  now  they  control  the  industries  of  the  country 
and  dominate  the  Government  itself.  No  one  questions 
the  right  of  the  Government,  through  its  legally  chosen 
representatives,  to  grant  franchises  to  individuals,  em- 
powering them  to  own  and  operate  public  utilities,  if 
the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people  are  fully  pro- 
tected; but  it  has  not  the  right  to  relinquish  control 
over  such  corporation,  for  by  so  doing,  it  jeopardizes 
the  public  welfare  by  placing  common  privileges  at  the 
mercy  of  private  interests. 

In  a  newspaper  article,  published  in  the  "Chatta- 
nooga Evening  News,"  the  17th  of  March,  1906, 
we  wrote  the  following:     "Every  business  corpora- 

26 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

tion  which  has  outgrown  State  limits,  and  gotten 
beyond  the  control  of  the  State  where  it  origi- 
nated, affects  interstate  commerce,  and  justly  comes 
under  the  provision  of  the  'Interstate  Commerce 
Clause*  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  There  is 
no  present  necessity  for  revising  the  Federal  Consti- 
tution to  secure  control  of  corporations,  if  the  'Inter- 
state Commerce  Clause'  is  given  a  liberal  interpreta- 
tion. Anything  of  a  national  character,  which  affects 
the  health,  the  business,  or  social  welfare  of  the  people 
in  all  the  States,  cannot  be  controlled  by  local  State 
laws,  nor  should  they  be.  All  attempts  to  do  so  have 
proven  futile  in  the  past;  and,  on  account  of  some 
special  local  interest,  often  prejudicial  to  other  sections. 
The  powers  of  the  Federal  Government  under  the  Con- 
stitution need  only  to  be  definitely  understood,  ampli- 
fied, and  enforced." 

Since  writing  the  above,  some  of  the  best  minds 
in  the  nation  have  endorsed  our  position.  We  were 
fully  persuaded  at  that  time  that  government  owner- 
ship was  unnecessary,  and  argued  against  it ;  because 
we  thought  that  effective  national  control  could  be 
had  without  Government  ownership;  but  experience, 
observation,  and  a  close  study  of  the  question,  has  con- 
vinced us  that  adequate  supervision  cannot  now  be 
had  without  first  restoring  to  the  Government  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people  what  was  taken  away  from  them 
by  corporate  greed ;  and  Government  ownership  is  the 
only  practical   solution. 

Our  very  "strenuous"  President*  has  been  thun- 
dering against  trusts  and  combines  for  four  years, 
and  has  accomplished  practically  nothing  more  than  the 
arousing  of  pubHc  attention.  As  long  as  the  corporations 
are  left  the  ownership  and  control  of  the  money  and 

♦Roosevelt. 

27 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

the  industries  of  the  country,  they  can,  and  will,  bid 
defiance  to  governmental  regulation.  They  employ 
nearly  all  the  labor,  and  have  the  power  to  dismiss 
it,  or  to  reduce  wages,  at  will ;  they  control  the  volume 
of  money  in  circulation,  and  can  at  any  time  with- 
draw it  from  the  channels  of  trade  and  investment; 
and  the  vital  interests  of  the  people  are  completely 
at  their  uncertain  mercy. 

But  you  say,  "It  is  impossible  to  carry  on  the  great 
commercial  and  public  enterprises  with  individual  cap- 
ital" ;  and  so  it  is.  Concentration  of  capital  and  of 
labor  is  the  development  of  our  modern  civilization, 
and  is  absolutely  necessary;  but  this  centralizing  of 
capital  and  labor  might  all  be  done  by  the  Government 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  people  would  share  in  its 
benefits.  The  argument  that  this  is  impracticable  is 
both  illogical  and  false.  For  really  large  undertak- 
ings, it  requires  the  resources  of  a  nation  to  accom- 
plish them.  Who  but  a  nation  could  have  constructed 
the  military  roads  of  Italy,  which,  after  centuries,  re- 
main as  monuments  to  the  Roman  Empire?  Who  but 
a  nation  could  have  constructed  the  Suez  canal  ?  What 
individual  or  corporation  could  have  undertaken  the 
colossal  task  of  digging  the  Panama  canal?  What 
individual  or  corporation  would  operate  the  Postal 
Service  of  the  United  States  and  give  to  the  people 
as  cheap  and  efficient  service?  This,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  the  benefits  of  our  Postal  System  could 
be  greatly  extended,  and  would  be,  were  it  not  for 
the  conflicting  interests  of  the  big  Express  companies, 
who  are  pandered  to  by  the  Congress  because  they  are 
powerful  corporations. 

There  never  has  been  in  the  history  of  the  world 
such  opportunities  for  an  ideal  humanity  as  exist  in 
this  present  age.  Inventive  genius  has  invented  labor- 
saving  machinery,  increasing  the  powers  of  produc- 

28 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

tion  many  fold;  science  alchemically  discovers  to  man 
the  wonderful  riches  in  the  storehouse  of  nature,  and 
art  lays  her  treasures  at  his  feet ;  the  public  utilities 
of  railroads,  street  cars,  electric  lights,  telegraph  and 
telephone,  have  become  not  only  conveniences,  they 
are  necessities  of  modern  civilization.  If  the  Govern- 
ment owned  and  controlled  these  mighty  agencies  for 
the  welfare,  comfort,  and  happiness  of  all  its  citizens, 
none  would  suffer  want;  the  hours  of  labor  would  be 
shortened,  allowing  time  for  recreation  and  the  im- 
provement of  the  mind;  the  standard  of  living  of  the 
masses  would  be  immeasurably  elevated;  and  instead 
of  an  impoverished,  toil-enslaved,  discontented  popu- 
lace, we  should  have  a  prosperous,  contented,  happy 
people.  And  that  good  time  is  coming.  The  inevit- 
able evolution  of  ethical  forces  are  working  in  unison 
to  hasten  it  on.  Greed  and  avarice  may  delay  it,  but 
in  the  end  the  great  moral  agencies  engaged  in  bring- 
ing it  about  will  be  as  irresistible  as  the  tide  of  the 
sea. 

CHAPTER  HI. 

LESSONS  TAUGHT  BY  LABOR  STRIKES 

In  the  anthracite  coal-strike  of  the  winter  of  1903, 
when  the  operators  and  owners  of  the  mines  put  up  the 
price  of  coal  to  nine  dollars  a  ton  in  the  middle  of  a 
cold  New  England  winter,  causing  widespread  suffer- 
ing among  the  poor,  the  just-thinking  people  of  the 
whole  country  were  shocked  at  the  criminal  injustice. 
D.  B.  Hill,  of  New  York,  a  man  distinguished  for  his 
conservatism,  and  who,  while  a  member  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  voted  and  worked  against  the  passage 
of  the  Income-tax  Law  (the  best  law  ever  passed  by 
the  national  Congress),  was  exasperated  by  the  cold- 

29 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

blooded  inhumanity  of  the  mine  owners  into  declaring 
in  a  speech  that  "If  such  conditions  cannot  be  pre- 
vented by  law,  they  emphasize  the  necessity  for  Gov- 
ernment ownership."  About  the  same  time,  the  author 
wrote  two  letters — one  to  President  Roosevelt,  the 
other  to  John  Mitchell,  president  of  the  Coal-Miners' 
Union,  and  mailed  them  both  at  the  same  time  on 
the  train  in  the  Grand  Central  passenger  station,  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio.  We  wrote  to  President  Roosevelt  that 
it  was  in  his  power  to  settle  the  anthracite  coal-strike 
by  arbitration.  That  the  coal-miners,  we  were  sure, 
would  be  glad  for  him  to  arbitrate  the  differences  be- 
tween them  and  the  operators,  or  else  for  him  to  ap- 
point a  commission  to  do  so ;  and  that  if  he  requested 
the  mine-owners  to  submit  to  arbitration,  public  senti- 
ment would  compel  them  to  agree.  We  wrote  to  John 
Mitchell  along  the  same  line,  and  suggested  that  he 
go  to  Washington  City  and  see  President  Roosevelt 
personally,  and  state  to  him  the  willingness  of  the 
miners  that  he  should  arbitrate  the  differences  between 
them  and  the  mine-owners,  or  that  he  appoint  a  com- 
mission to  do  so.  We  further  added,  that  if  he  suc- 
ceeded in  this,  as  we  felt  confident  he  would,  that  it 
would  be  a  national  recognition  of  organized  labor,  and 
the  tallest  feather  ever  put  in  its  cap.  In  three  or  four 
days  after  we  wrote,  John  Mitchell  went  to  Washing- 
ton City,  saw  the  President,  and  the  arbitration  was 
arranged  for  exactly  according  to  the  sugges- 
tions which  we  had  made.  The  mine-owners  were 
afraid  not  to  agree  to  it,  just  as  we  had  be- 
lieved. It  proved  to  be  not  only  the  tallest  feather 
in  the  cap  of  organized  labor,  it  was  also  the  tallest 
feather  in  the  cap  of  the  Administration,  and  contrib- 
uted more  than  any  other  one  thing  in  electing  Mr. 
Roosevelt  for  a  second  term.  It  gave  John  Mitch- 
ell national  prominence,  and  he  has  since  been  promi- 

30 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

nently  mentioned  for  the  Vice-Presidency  on  the 
Democratic  ticket.  President  Roosevelt  replied  to  our 
letter  through  his  secretary,  Mr.  Loeb.  John  Mitchell 
did  not  reply.  They  both  received  national  honor  and 
credit  for  the  settlement  of  the  strike,  virhile  my  hum- 
ble connection  with  it  has  remained  unknown ;  but  we 
are  satisfied  that  an  intolerable  condition  was  relieved 
after  the  manner  of  our  suggestion.  We  only  men- 
tion the  incident  to  show  that  the  criminal  injustice 
of  corporations  has,  at  times,  forced  on  the  minds  of 
the  most  conservative,  the  necessity  for  government 
ownership. 

Again,  in  the  winter  of  1905,  the  railroad  compa- 
nies of  the  North  West  refused  to  furnish  cars  to  haul 
coal,  endangering  the  very  life  of  the  people  resident 
there,  and  forcibly  bringing  to  public  attention  the  im- 
perative need  for  government  ownership.  Numerous 
similar  incidents  could  be  narrated,  but  it  is  useless  to 
take  up  the  reader's  time  with  the  narration  of  events 
with  which  every  intelligent  person  is  familiar. 

At  that  time,  and  before,  we  were  strongly  in  favor 
of  organized  labor,  and  our  sympathy  was  usually  on 
the  side  of  the  strikers.  We  are  still  in  favor  of  or- 
ganized labor  as  long  as  there  exists  organized  capital, 
because,  while  present  conditions  obtain,  it  is  a  neces- 
sity ;  but  what  about  the  great  mass  of  the  people  who 
are  not  in  either  organization?  Placed  between  the 
upper  and  nether  millstones  of  organized  capital  and 
organized  labor,  they  are  being  crushed.  When  a 
mine,  or  a  furnace  shuts  down,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
anthracite  coal-strike,  the  operators,  are  for  the  time, 
released  from  the  expense  of  operation,  while  they  are 
given  the  chance  to  clean  up  accumulated  surplus  stock ; 
besides,  they  take  advantage  of  the  circumstances  to 
raise  the  price  of  their  products — an  increase  which 
the  consumer  has  to  pay.     The  corporations  make 

31 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

enoririous  profits  out  of  labor  strikes  at  the  expense  of 
the  common  people.  The  strikers  may  gain  some  tem- 
porary advantage  to  partially  compensate  them  for  loss 
of  time,  but  the  people  are  robbed  to  pay  the  cost. 
We  believe  that  many  labor  strikes  have  been  inten- 
tionally precipitated  by  the  corporations  themselves, 
that  they  might  cut  off  the  expenses  of  operation,  and 
reap  a  harvest  of  increased  profits. 

When  any  class  of  men  organize  to  secure  for  them- 
selves certain  benefits,  privileges,  and  immunities,  de- 
nied to  other  citizens,  it  is  wrong  in  principle,  destruc- 
tive of  the  public  welfare,  and  in  opposition  to  demo- 
cratic government.  It  accentuates  differences  in  rank 
by  arraying  one  class  of  citizens  against  another,  en- 
gendering a  spirit  of  intolerance,  fruitful  only  of  ani- 
mosities and  strife.  It  is  destructive  of  patriotism,  be- 
cause it  circumscribes  the  interests  and  sympathies  of 
classes,  who  cease  to  look  beyond  proximate  benefits 
to  themselves,  and  care  little  for  public  rights  and  the 
Common  Good.  With  the  corporations  and  the  labor 
unions  the  public  has  no  rights.  We  are  opposed  to 
either  kind  of  organization;  for  they  are  alike  sub- 
versive of  democratic  government. 

A  perfect  democracy  has  never  yet  existed,  because 
its  perfection  can  only  be  attained  among  equals.  Per- 
fect equality  can  never  exist  where  classes  are  formed 
and  divided  by  separate,  antagonistic  interests ;  but  if 
these  barriers  should  be  removed,  as  some  time  they 
will  be,  class-distinctions  would  disappear,  and  the 
people  would  rapidly  approximate  toward  a  democratic 
equality. 

Combinations  have  reached  an  extent  and  a  power 
in  our  Government  which  is  already  almost  intolerable. 
The  same  men  who  own  the  railroads,  own  the  coal- 
fields, the  oil-fields,  the  iron  and  copper  mines ;  they 
control  money  and  banking,  and  through  the  banks, 

32 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  business  of  the  country ;  they  own  and  control  the 
manufactories  and  mechanical  production,  and  even 
the  products  of  the  farm  fall  into  their  greedy  grasp. 
The  people  can  scarcely  buy  an  article  of  food  or  cloth- 
ing, or  any  necessary  commodity  without  being  com- 
pelled to  pay  a  tribute  to  some  trust  or  combine. 

Among  various  things  of  manufacture,  is  the 
"money  panic."  For  a  few  years  previous  to  the  man- 
ufactured, made-to-order  panic  of  1907,  we  had,  what 
was  called  prosperous  times ;  but  what  kind  of  prosper- 
ity was  it?  It  is  true  that  the  laboring  people  were 
generally  employed  at  seemingly  fair  wages,  which 
kept  them  hopeful,  and  maintained  a  measure  of  con- 
fidence. Simply  because  they  were  given  work,  they 
were  satisfied ;  and  Aid  not  realize  that  they  were  slav- 
ing to  increase  the  profits  of  corporations.  The  cost 
of  living,  already  high,  kept  going  higher.  If  they 
were  forced  to  buy  less  of  any  article,  because  of  in- 
sufficient means,  it  had  no  effect  toward  reducing  the 
price,  which  continued  to  advance  instead  of  falling, 
because  the  natural  law  of  supply  and  demand  no 
longer  has  any  influence  in  fixing  the  prices  of  com- 
modities— prices  are  now  made  by  the  trusts — and 
they  found  that  it  took  all  of  their  wages  to  barely 
subsist.  When  the  corporations  brought  on  the  panic 
in  1907,  about  four  million  of  laborers,  who  were 
thrown  out  of  employment,  had  not  enough  to  pay 
their  next  week's  house-rent  and  grocery  bills.  The 
wages  which  had  been  paid  to  them  had  all  been 
turned  back  into  the  maw  of  the  Octopus  of  Greed. 
The  corporations  had  beat  them  out  of  the  profits  of 
their  labor,  and  then  robbed  them  of  their  wages.  In 
proof  of  this  statement,  we  offer  the  following,  which 
is  copied  from  the  "New  York  Times"  of  June  the 
I2th,  1909: 

"The  *bread-line'  at  Fleischmann's  bakery  last  night, 

33 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

save  one,  a  night  of  last  winter  still  holding  the  ban- 
ner. On  that  night  two  blocks  were  encircled  and 
the  ends  of  the  line  met;  1,200  hungry  men  were  in 
line.  Last  night  Mr.  Adams  put  the  number  at  more 
than  1,000,  and  declared  that  it  was  double  the  length 
of  a  year  ago. 

"It  was  the  first  time  that  the  'line'  had  been  fed 
from  the  new  place  in  Eleventh  street,  between  Broad- 
way and  University  place,  and  for  the  first  time  the 
head  of  the  line  rested  at  the  northwest  corner  of 
Broadway  and  Eleventh  street.  The  line,  in  some 
places,  two  men  abreast,  extended  from  Eleventh 
street  up  Broadway  to  Twelfth  street,  out  in  Twelfth 
street  to  University  place,  a  long  block,  and  down  Uni- 
versity place,  another  long  block,  to  Eleventh  street, 
and  again  into  Eleventh  street,  with  the  end  men 
within  shouting  distance  of  each  other.  Tt's  Sunday 
night.  That's  one  reason  why  the  line  is  so  long  to- 
night, though  it  was  much  longer  than  it  was  last  Sun- 
day night'  it  was  explained  at  the  bakery.  The  men 
are  not  fed  Saturday  nights,  and  Sunday,  on  account 
of  the  closing  of  the  bars  and  business  places,  is  a 
particularly  hard  night  for  the  men  who  stand  in 
line,  so  many  who  manage  to  get  along  somehow  the 
rest  of  the  week  are  usually  in  their  places  Sunday 
nights.  'Good  night  after  a  hard  week,'  was  one  ex- 
planation oflFered  by  the  head  of  the  line  at  midnight. 
'I've  been  here  since  8:45  o'clock,'  continued  he.  'I 
found  a  dozen  fellers  here  then,  and  they  have  been 
coming  ever  since.  I  was  smaller  than  the  rest,  so 
when  we  formed,  they  let  me  take  the  front.' 

"Just  before  midnight,  when  the  bread  is  given  out, 
Mr.  Adams  went  down  the  line  and  made  the  men  close 
up  and  get  into  marching  order.  They  do  his  bidding 
like  children.  'If  one  were  to  attack  me,  the  others 
would  jump  him  instantly/  said  Mr.  Adams. 

34 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

"An  intelligent  man  in  the  line,  in  reply  to  the 
Times'  reporter's  question,  said,  T  am  a  mechanic,  a 
cooper,  but  just  now  cannot  get  work.  The  park  is 
my  lodging-place  for  the  present.' 

"At  the  stroke  of  12  o'clock,  a  policeman  told  the 
front  of  the  line  to  move  up,  and  each  man  helped 
himself  from  two  large  boxes.  One  man  took  two 
loaves,  but  Mr.  Adams  did  not  see  him,  nor  did  the 
policeman,  so  he  passed  on. 

"It  was  hard  last  night,  for  the  line  was  longer  than 
expected,  and  there  was  hardly  half  bread  enough. 

"  'All  out,'  said  Mr.  Adams,  in  a  low  voice,  after 
the  second  crate  and  a  hamper  had  been  emptied.  At 
that  moment  the  hungry  line  extended  up  Broadway 
and  far  into  Eleventh  street. 

"The  despair  on  the  face  of  the  man  who  looked 
first  into  the  empty  hamper  and  heard  the  low-spoken 
words,  'All  out,'  was  not  easy  to  forget.  He  had 
certainly  been  in  line,  from  his  position,  since  before 
ten  o'clock.  He  was  weak  from  hunger,  for  the  line 
was  not  fed  Saturday  night,  and  he  had  missed  his 
loaf  by  one  man. 

"The  line  dissolved  slowly.  As  each  man  heard  the 
news  he  dropped  out,  with  little  heart  to  tell  it  to  the 
man  behind,  and  so  for  fifteen  minutes  the  line  in 
Broadway  was  still  hopeful  and  still  moving  up.  Only 
occasionally  one,  returning  from  the  front,  would  stop 
long  enough  to  repeat  the  soft-spoken,  'All  out.' " 

My  countrymen,  what  think  you  of  this?  Famine 
and  hunger  in  the  midst  of  wealth  and  abundance! 
Out  of  the  windows  of  Broadway  mansions,  some  who 
were  drinking  and  feasting,  could  see  that  awful  spec- 
tacle of  wretchedness  and  hunger!  And  that  is  only 
the  account  of  one  night  in  one  place  of  one  of  our 
great  cities! 

There  had  been  no  drought,  no  failure  of  crops,  no 

35 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

war  nor  pestilence.  We  raise  enough  on  our  broad 
plains  and  fertile  lands  to  feed  the  world,  and  yet  our 
own  people  are  starving.  In  comparison  with  the  old 
countries  our  own  is  as  yet  thinly  populated.  If  the 
same  system  continues,  what  will  be  the  condition  of 
the  people  in  a  few  years  when  the  country  will  be 
more  populous  ?  There  are  one  hundred  multi-million- 
aires in  the  United  States,  whose  combined  wealth 
will  in  twenty-five  years,  by  the  accretive  increase  of 
interest  rates  alone,  absorb  all  the  money  in  the  coun- 
try ;  and  that  is  equivalent  to  its  ownership. 

We  sometimes  ask  ourself  these  questions:  What 
will  become  of  the  railroads  when  the  people  are  no 
longer  able  to  pay  to  ride  over  them,  or  to  pay  freight 
rates  for  the  transportation  of  products  ?  When  they 
will  no  longer  bring  in  a  revenue  to  their  owners, 
will  the  billionaires  support  them  then  for  their  own 
personal  use  and  pleasure,  to  ride  over  occasionally 
in  their  gilded  private  cars?  Or  will  they  allow  the 
machinery  to  rust,  and  the  roadbeds  to  grow  up  in 
weeds?  What  will  become  of  the  costly  hotels  when 
the  people  can  no  longer  afford  to  patronize  them? 
Will  the  billionaires  keep  them  up  that  they  may 
dine  in  them  once  a  year  in  sumptuous  magnificence, 
or  will  they  abandon  them  to  the  owls  and  bats  ?  The 
business  houses  in  the  cities,  and  the  residences  also, 
are  fast  coming  into  corporate  possession;  when  the 
people  can  no  longer  pay  the  taxes  and  rentals,  the 
business  houses  will  be  vacated  and  allowed  to  fall  into 
decay;  residences  will  be  untenanted,  and  weeds  and 
brambles  will  grow  in  the  streets.  Such  will  be  the 
inevitable  consequences,  unless  there  is  a  check,  or 
stop,  put  to  corporate  greed. 

As  a  familiar  illustration,  which  is  every  day  dupli- 
cated, we  will  relate  the  following: 

Eight  years  ago,  a  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance 

36 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

owned  two  houses  and  lots  on  which  was  a  mortgage 
of  $2,500;  but  the  houses  were  worth  about  $6,000, 
and  he  hoped  soon  to  be  able  to  pay  off  the  mort- 
gage. He  had  two  daughters,  who  at  that  time,  were 
about  ten  and  eight  years  old.  They,  with  himself  and 
wife,  constituted  a  family  of  four.  He  was  ambitious 
to  give  his  girls  a  good  education,  and  has  done  so; 
has  given  them  a  good  literary  and  musical  education, 
and  has  clothed  them  so  they  could  go  in  the  best 
society.  Three  years  ago,  he  found  it  necessary  to  sell 
one  of  his  houses  in  order  to  keep  his  children  in 
school ;  and  about  three  months  ago,  he  sold  the  other 
house  to  satisfy  the  mortgage,  which  he  had  never 
been  able  to  meet,  when  he  found  that  he  had  $1,000 
left.  Thirty-five  hundred  dollars  had  dwindled  in 
eight  years  to  one  thousand,  and  those  eight  years 
covered  the  time  of  so-called  great  national  prosperity. 
In  addition  to  the  $2,500  taken  from  his  original  capi- 
tal, he  has  made  every  year  from  $1,000  to  $1,200  in 
salary.  Extravagant,  you  say?  Not  so;  he  was  only 
trying  to  educate  his  daughters,  and  to  support  his 
family  respectably.  Personally,  he  is  a  man  of  unex- 
ceptional habits. 

The  time  has  come  when  a  man  cannot  support  a 
family  in  respectability  and  comfort,  and  educate  his 
children  on  $1,000  a  year.  We  know  that  this  is  true 
from  personal  experience.  If  a  thousand  dollars  will 
not  support  a  family  in  decency  and  comfort,  what 
about  the  great  majority  of  laborers  who  work  for 
less  than  five  hundred  a  year  ?  With  them  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  bare  subsistence;  yet,  if  they  are  given  work 
to  keep  them  from  starving,  they  call  it  prosperous 
times !  It  is  prosperous  times  for  the  corporations 
who  own  and  control  the  money  and  the  industries  of 
the  country.  They  pile  up  their  millions,  and  live  in 
a  style  that  the  princes  of  the  old  world  cannot  afford. 

37 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

They  have  their  mansions  in  the  cities,  costing  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  in  comparison  with  which  the  lordly 
castles  of  the  old  world  are  mere  hovels;  they  own 
their  country  villas,  costing  millions  more,  of  which 
a  king  might  well  be  proud;  they  have  their  magnifi- 
cent summer  residences  at  the  various  pleasure  re- 
sorts along  the  coast ;  they  skim  the  seas  in  their  pri- 
vate yachts,  some  of  which  cost  more  than  three  mil- 
lions of  dollars — worth  more  than  a  whole  galley  of 
ships  in  the  old  Roman  navy;  they  travel  round  the 
world  in  their  private  cars  and  private  yachts,  and 
astonish  the  citizens  of  the  old  countries  with  their 
vulgar  extravagance;  their  women  spend  something 
like  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  each  a  year  for  dress — 
a  sum,  which  not  many  years  ago,  was  considered  a 
fortune ;  they  eat  the  daintiest  and  most  costly  viands, 
and  drink  the  finest  wines ;  all  this,  while  millions  of 
their  fellow-countrymen  are  denied  not  only  the  com- 
forts of  good  living,  but  the  commonest  necessities  of 
life.  This  condition  exists  solely  on  account  of  cor- 
porate greed. 

Securing  franchises  from  the  Government  under 
the  specious  plea  of  developing  natural  resources,  or 
some  much  needed  public  service,  the  corporations 
have  gone  on  extending  their  powers  as  the  solidity 
of  their  combines  was  more  complete,  and  they  had 
more  firmly  in  their  grasp  the  money  and  the  indus- 
tries of  the  country,  enabling  them  to  control  the 
manufacture  and  the  prices  of  products,  and  the  em- 
ployment of  labor  and  wages.  They  have  cunningly 
fortified  their  position  by  subsidizing  the  legislatures 
of  the  States,  the  National  Congress,  and  the  Press, 
and  by  corrupting  the  courts — capturing  the  citadel  of 
Justice  itself. 

Lawyers  are  professional  men,  and  most  of  them  re- 
gard it  simply  as  a  matter  of  business  to  work  for 

38 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  largest  fees,  and  the  corporations,  having  the 
money,  are  the  highest  bidders. 

Ambitious  young  men,  who  are  students  of  law, 
give  more  attention  to  the  study  of  corporation  prac- 
tice than  any  other  department  of  law,  because  it 
tempts  with  the  promise  of  big  fees,  riches,  and 
honors. 

Formerly,  a  lawyer  who  could  earn  by  the  honest, 
industrious  practice  of  his  profession  a  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  in  a  lifetime,  was  considered  a  good  law- 
yer, and  particularly  fortunate;  but  now,  hundred- 
thousand-dollar  fees  are  frequently  paid  by  corpora- 
tions in  single  suits.  The  interests  of  the  people  are 
feebly  represented  in  our  courts  because  the  best  legal 
talent  is  employed  on  the  other  side. 

No  lawyer,  no  matter  how  great  his  abilities,  ever 
honestly  earned  a  hundred-thousand-dollar  fee;  but 
the  corporations  can  well  afford  to  pay  such  fees  to 
put  through  dishonest  schemes  whereby  they  can  de- 
fraud the  public  out  of  millions,  or  to  defend  their 
secret  and  nefarious  practices  in  the  courts.  Having 
the  money,  they  buy  the  best  legal  talent  in  the  coun- 
try; and  by  the  same  means,  they  subsidize  the  Press, 
and  hire  gifted  speakers  to  mould  a  public  sentiment 
in  their  favor,  by  persuading  the  people  that  capitalis- 
tic interests  is  the  base  and  support  of  all  industrial 
enterprise,  and  that  to  disturb  them  in  any  way  des'troys 
prosperity  by  putting  labor  out  of  employment  and 
injuring  business;  (and,  under  the  present  system, 
they  are  right  about  it,  for  as  long  as  corporations 
control  the  money  and  the  industries  of  the  country, 
they  can  make  hard  times  whenever  it  suits  them  to 
do  so;)  they  employ  in  their  service  the  brightest 
and  most  capable  young  men,  and  pay  some  of  them 
handsome — even  magnificent — salaries  to  work  for 
their  interests,  and  then  have  the  Press  to  point  them 

39 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

out  as  successful,  self-made  men,  as  examples  of  what 
brains  and  work  will  accomplish  in  our  great  free 
country,  creating  the  false  impression  that  like  oppor- 
tunities are  open  to  every  aspiring  American  youth 
who  has  the  ability  to  succeed  and  the  willingness  to 
work.  Nothing  is  further  from  the  truth.  The  fact  is 
that  they  only  give  to  a  comparatively  few  these  ex- 
ceptional salaries  and  opportunities,  and  because  they 
can  use  them  in  two  ways;  one  of  which  is  faithful 
service  to  their  interests;  and  the  other,  examples  to 
the  public  of  the  benevolence  of  capital  in  rewarding 
industry  and  talent.  The  public  is  successfully  duped 
by  it;  each  man  thinks  that  these  grand  opportunities 
are  open  to  his  son  if  he  will  only  take  advantage  of 
them,  and  most  likely  attributes  his  own  failure  to  do 
so  to  bad  luck,  and  not  to  any  fault  in  the  system. 
The  corporations  have  only  a  limited  number  of  these 
positions  to  fill,  and  when  they  are  filled,  the  rest  of 
the  young  men  are  hopelessly  and  mercilessly  shut  out. 

If  any  remedial  legislation  is  attempted,  the  corpo- 
rations cut  down  wages,  force  laborers  into  idleness, 
and  bring  about  hard  times — iwhich  they  have  the 
power  easily  to  do — and  a  hungry,  suffering  people 
soon  cry  enough.  Every  attempt  of  the  people  at 
public  ownership  of  public  utilities  is  denounced  and 
discredited,  while  their  own  system  of  robbery  is 
praised  and  bolstered  up  by  every  sophistical  argument 
which  dishonest  cunning  and  perfidy  can  invent.  They 
are  perfectly  aware  of  the  weakness  of  their  position ; 
therefore,  they  adopt  every  means,  and  employ  every 
effort  and  agency  to  keep  the  people  blinded  and  in 
ignorance  of  their  own  interests. 

When  a  small  boy,  in  the  country,  my  father's  house 
was  distant  a  half-mile  from  my  grandfather's.  About 
half-way  between  the  two  houses  was  a  strip  of  dense 
woodland.    The  tall,  branching,  white-oak  trees  shut 

40 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

out  the  sunlight,  and  made  a  sombre  shade,  even  at 
mid-day.  The  path  to  grandfather's  led  through  that 
wood.  Sometimes,  late  of  afternoons,  mother  would 
want  me  to  run  down  to  grandfather's  on  some  er- 
rand. She  would  often  ask  me  if  I  were  afraid,  when 
I  would  assure  her  that  I  was  not  in  the  least  bit 
afraid.  When  I  would  come  to  that  woodland  where 
the  path  led  into  the  dark  shadows,  and  I  could  hear 
the  chirp  of  the  wood-crickets  and  the  katydids,  and 
the  occasional  screech  of  an  owl  or  the  call  of  a  whip- 
poorwill,  I  could  feel  the  quickened  beating  of  my  heart, 
and  my  cap  would  seem  to  set  without  any  weight 
on  my  head;  but  I  would  begin  bravely  to  whistle. 
I  thought  I  was  whistling  because  I  was  brave;  but 
I  know  now  it  was  because  I  was  scared  half  to  death. 
In  like  manner,  the  vaunting  boasts  which  corpora- 
tions make  of  their  falsely  termed  "Vested  rights," 
and  the  great  good  to  the  country  of  their  invested 
capital,  is  only  their  whistling  through  the  woods; 
because  they  know  the  untenableness  of  their  posi- 
tion when  once  the  people  become  enlightened  to  the 
facts. 

In  Atlanta,  Ga.,  the  people  have  a  municipally 
owned  water  plant.  Not  long  since,  Atlanta  had  a 
big  fire  that  destroyed  some  valuable  property.  The 
two  daily  newspapers  of  the  neighboring  city 
of  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  where  we  have  a  water  plant 
owned  by  a  private  company,  exaggerated  the  loss  in 
bold  headlines,  and  attributed  the  failure  of  the  At- 
lanta fire  company  to  extinguish  the  fire  to  low  water 
pressure,  due  to  the  necessary  poor  management  of  a 
municipally  owned  water  plant.  It  so  happened  that 
Chattanooga  had  a  big  fire  only  about  two  weeks 
afterward,  and  the  water  gave  out  entirely.  The  whole 
city  was  without  water  for  several  hours.  The  same 
papers,  in  writing  it  up,  minimized    the    loss,    and 

41 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

treated  the  failure  of  the  water  as  a  trivial  matter, 
due  to  some  minor  defect  in  the  main,  which  our  ex- 
cellent water  company  would  hasten  to  repair.  Thus 
the  subsidized  Press  is  ready  on  occasion  to  champion 
and  defend  corporations,  and  to  discredit  every  effort 
made  by  the  people  to  own  or  control  public  utilities, 
or  to  protect  their  own  interests;  especially  are  their 
batteries  leveled  against  Government,  or  public  own- 
ership. 

The  corporations  are  so  strongly  intrenched  in 
political  power  that  it  is  extremely  doubtful  that  they 
will  ever  be  dislodged  without  resort  to  radical  meas- 
ures. 

No  other  nation  in  the  history  of  the  world  had 
such  a  wonderfully  rapid  growth  and  development  as 
ours,  and  none  so  soon  discovered  the  elements  of 
decay. 

Centralization  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  few 
caused  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  Republic,  and 
other  nations;  but  in  no  nation  was  it  so  rapid  as  in 
the  United  States.  If  our  present  system  is  permitted 
to  continue,  a  few  individuals,  constituting  the  monied 
aristocracy,  will  soon  own  all  the  wealth;  the  masses 
will  be  completely  impoverished  and  hopelessly 
doomed  to  the  slavery  of  unrewarded  toil;  produc- 
tive energies  will  suffer  atrophy  for  lack  of  just  com- 
pensation, and  national  dissolution  will  inevitably  re- 
sult. 

Such  was  not  the  intent  of  the  founders  of  our 
Government.  Founding  it  on  a  representative,  federal 
plan,  it  was  intended  to  be  a  partnership,  in  which 
each  and  every  citizen  should  enjoy  equal  benefits 
and  equal  rights;  but  private  greed,  supported  by 
corporate  power,  has  annulled  the  partnership  by  ap- 
propriating all  the  benefits  to  themselves.  They  talk 
about  the  "Vested  right  of  capital,"  but  never  mention 

42 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

the  rights  which  Justice  vests  in  the  honest  toiler. 
Money  has  no  rights  apart  from  the  individual.  Moral 
responsibilities  attach  to  intelligent,  accountable  be- 
ings alone.  The  attention  of  the  people  needs  to  be 
diverted  from  the  dollar  to  the  man.  When  you  get 
down  to  the  real  ethics  of  the  matter,  who  better  de- 
serves to  own  this  country  and  enjoy  the  benefits  of 
production  than  those  who,  by  honest  labor,  produce 
its  wealth? 

The  only  worthy  aim  of  government  is  the  impar- 
tial betterment  of  the  individual  Hves  of  its  citizens; 
and  this  can  only  be  attained  by  all  working  together 
to  secure  the  Common  Good.  Without  cooperation, 
there  is  no  material  or  moral  advantage  in  the  asso- 
ciated, or  civilized  state.  If  there  are  no  individual 
benefits  to  be  derived,  there  is,  likewise,  no  incentive 
to  cooperation.  What  love  can  a  people  have  for  a 
government  which  denies  to  them  its  chief  benefits? 
And  what  incentive  can  they  have  to  support  such  a 
government?  Cooperation  and  aggression  cannot  ex- 
ist together.  Cooperation  demands  both  individual 
and  collective  benefits,  and  these  must  be  equal  in 
degree,  if  not  in  kind,  made  so  by  voluntary  agree- 
ment as  to  the  value  of  different  products  produced 
by  different  kinds  of  labor  and  skill. 

Each  of  the  two  great  political  parties  in  this  coun- 
try have  enunciated  in  their  platforms  that  corpora- 
tions must  be  controlled ;  but  they  differ  as  to  how  this 
can,  or  should  be,  done.  Both  parties  are  agreed  that 
corporations  are  a  development  of  modern  business 
conditions  and  requirements,  and  that  they  have  a  nec- 
essary existence;  which  is  all  true,  if  it  were  not  so 
that  the  Government  could  take  their  places,  and  man- 
age these  colossal  enterprises  and  public  industries  in 
the  interest  of  the  commonwealth. 

Our  Government  will  not  justify  its  existence  till  it 

43 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

redeems  its  promise  made  in  the  Constitution  of 
"Equal  right  to  all,"  by  restoring  to  the  people  what 
was  wrongfully  taken  away  from  them,  and  reestab- 
lishing the  principles  of  equity  and  justice.  This  can- 
not be  done  till  every  kind  of  combination  is  broken 
up  and  its  future  existence  rendered  impossible. 

We  have  in  every  city  a  "Retail  Grocers'  Associa- 
tion." They  meet  every  week  and  agree  what  they 
will  pay  the  farmer  and  the  gardener  for  their  pro- 
duce, and  what  prices  they  will  sell  the  same  to  their 
customers.  The  "Merchants'  Association"  does  the 
same  thing;  and  likewise,  "The  Manufacturers'  As- 
sociation." Together  with  these,  we  have  the  various 
"Builders'  Associations,"  the  many  labor  organiza- 
tions, and  the  people  are  at  the  mercy  of  all  of  them. 

It  has  long  been  the  practice  of  mining  companies, 
and  some  other  large  corporations,  where  they  can,  to 
run  commissaries,  enabling  them  to  rob  their  laborers 
of  their  wages  by  charging  them  extortionate  prices 
for  food  and  clothing.  If  the  National  Government 
owned  the  railroads,  the  telegraph  and  telephone  lines, 
and  the  coal,  iron,  silver,  and  gold  mines;  and  the 
States  owned  the  large  timber  tracts  and  unsettled 
lands  as  a  public  domain  to  hold  for  the  conservation 
of  the  forests  and  the  benefit  of  home-builders;  and 
the  municipalities  owned  the  street  car  lines,  the  water, 
gas,  and  electric  plants;  then  they  should  imitate 
the  corporations  in  the  commissary  business  to  an  ex- 
tent sufficient  to  prevent  extortion  and  monopoly. 

If  each  State  would  establish  supply  stores  at  con- 
venient points  for  distribution,  the  municipalities 
could  purchase  from  the  State's  stores,  and  sell  to  the 
people;  that  would  effectually  destroy  the  monopoly 
of  the  "Retail  Grocers'  Association."  The  States,  and 
the  municipalities,  should  own  the  large  factories  and 
manufacturing  plants  so  as  to  prevent  monopoly  and 

44 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

render  needless  the  "Manufacturers'  Association." 
*The  Merchants'  Association"  would  then  have  no 
further  reason  for  existence,  and,  with  our  system  of 
money  corrected,  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  would 
govern  prices.  The  National  Government,  the  States, 
and  the  municipalities  owning  all  the  public  utilities, 
and  employing  all  the  public  labor,  there  would  no 
longer  be  any  labor  organizations,  or  need  for  any; 
and  then,  while  encouraging  home-owning  and  home- 
building,  they  should  have  in  every  city  a  sufficient 
number  of  comfortable  residences  for  their  employees 
to  live  in  at  fair  rentals,  so  as  to  keep  down  rentals 
within  reasonable  limits.  The  expenses  of  govern- 
ment would  then  fall  equally  on  all.  Under  the  pres- 
ent system,  the  chief  burden  of  governmental  expenses 
falls  on  the  poor.  The  laborer  and  the  producer  pays 
the  expenses  of  government  in  the  final  analysis.  If 
the  values  of  property  are  increased,  and  taxes  are 
raised,  the  laborer  pays  for  it  either  in  higher 
rentals  or  lower  wages;  or  if  rentals  are  not 
raised,  nor  wages  reduced,  he  is  made  to  pay 
for  it  in  the  enhanced  cost  of  living.  Corpora- 
tions have  it  in  their  power  to  make  prices  on  com- 
modities almost  whatever  they  please.  Under  Gov- 
ernment ownership  and  control  these  onerous  condi- 
tions could  not  exist.  But,  you  ask,  how  are  we  go- 
ing to  get  public  ownership?  Where  is  the  money  to 
come  from  to  buy  these  things,  for  their  estimated, 
aggregate  worth  is  inconceivably  large?  Pray  do  not 
be  shocked  by  the  proposition  we  are  going  to  submit 
until  after  you  have  given  it  thoughtful,  unprejudiced 
study.     The  following  is  our  plan: 

The  National  Government  should,  by  Act  of  Con- 
gress, confiscate  to  the  Government's  ownership,  the 
railroads,  telegraph  and  telephone  lines,  the  coal,  iron, 
gold  and  silver  mines,  and  that  part  of  the  public 

45 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

domain  which  they  unjustly  secured ;  but  should  pay 
to  each  stockholder  the  amount  of  his  stock,  if  his 
stock,  together  with  the  value  of  his  other  possessions, 
is  less  than  $500,000.  The  States  should  require  that 
each  individual  fortune  in  property,  or  in  money  or 
stocks  and  bonds,  or  in  corporations  not  mentioned 
above,  in  excess  of  $500,000,  be  paid  into  the  State's 
treasury,  to  be  used  in  paying  to  other  individuals  the 
worth  of  their  stock  in  local  corporations  who  had 
less  than  $500,000.  Municipal  utilities  should  be 
turned  over  to  the  ownership  and  control  of  munici- 
palities; but  every  other  public  utiHty  which  is  more 
than  local  in  its  character,  and  not  interstate,  should 
be  owned  and  controlled  by  the  State. 

Every  individual  fortune  in  excess  of  $500,000 
should  go  to  the  National  Government,  in  the  case  of 
interstate  corporations ;  to  the  States  in  the  case  of  lo- 
cal corporations  and  private  possessions.  You  may  be 
horrified  at  this  suggestion,  and  call  it  confiscation; 
but  we  term  it  returning  to  the  States  and  the  Govern- 
ment for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  people  what  was  un- 
justly taken  away  from  them. 

No  man  in  a  lifetime,  no  matter  what  his  abilities, can 
honestly  earn  more  than  $500,000;  and  no  man  has 
need  of  more  than  that  to  gratify  every  want  essential 
to  his  comfort  and  happiness;  if  he  has  in  excess  of 
that  sum,  the  surplus  should  go  to  the  State  for  the 
Common  Good.* 

We  are  opposed  to  giznng  anything  to  any  man, 
provided  he  is  able  to  work;  imbeciles  and  invalids 


♦For  the  encouragement  of  industry  and  thrift,  the  hon- 
est acquisition  of  property  by  individuals,  and  the  inviol- 
able right  to  own  and  use  it,  must  be  left  free  up  to  the 
limit  demanded  by  the  social  welfare,  which  I  have  pro- 
posed should  be  $500,000.  Hopeless  poverty  is  the  great- 
est of  all  discouragements  under  the  present  system. 

46 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

should  have  every  necessary  want  and  comfort  sup- 
plied. If  a  man  is  able  to  work,  let  him  earn  what 
he  gets;  but  pay  him  the  full  value  of  his  services. 
Men  might  in  this  learn  a  lesson  from  the  bees:  if 
drones  will  not  work,  drive  them  out  of  the  hive. 

The  millions  which  would  go  back  to  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  States  from  individual  fortunes  above 
$500,000  would  furnish  a  sum  sufficient  to  liquidate 
the  Nation's  bonded  debt,  would  buy  every  railroad, 
every  telegraph  and  telephone  line,  every  mine,  every 
public  utility.  Then  great  private  corporations  could 
no  longer  exist.  The  National  Government,  the 
States,  and  municipalities,  would  employ  all  public 
labor  and  there  would  be  no  more  strikes,  no  more 
panics.  A  small  revenue  from  public  utilities  would 
easily  pay  all  the  expenses  of  Government,  and  there 
would  no  longer  exist  excuse  or  need  for  the  robber 
tariff  on  imports. 

Our  interchange  of  commodities  with  other  nations 
would  be  based  on  equity. 

The  people  would  get  a  public  service  many  times 
cheaper  than  at  present,  and  would  at  the  same  time 
be  completely  relieved  from  the  burden  of  taxation; 
labor  would  secure  constant  employment  at  living 
wages,  and  "hard  times"  would  be  a  thing  of  the 
past. 

In  reducing  individual  fortunes  to  $500,000,  we 
would  not  take  into  estimate  the  costly  mansions  of 
millionaires.  True,  every  million  dollars  put  into  a 
mansion  meant  a  thousand  hovels  for  the  poor ;  but  now 
that  they  have  been  built  at  this  great  economic  waste, 
they  afford  a  shelter,  which  is  no  more  than  a  t.wo- 
thousand-dollar  house  will  do;  so  we  would  leave 
them  their  mansions  for  homes  without  making  any 
valuation  of  them,  and  let  them  stand  as  monuments 
of  the  age  of  monopoly  and  greed. 

47 


THE  DRAGON'S   TEETH 

One  argument  offered  against  Government  owner- 
ship is,  "That  the  public  service  would  be  dominated 
by  a  one-man  power  through  political  patronage."  We 
admit  that  there  is  more  force  in  this  contention  than 
in  any  other  presented  by  the  corporation  side;  but 
that  danger  could  be  entirely  obviated  by  the  adop- 
tion of  comprehensive  Civil  Service  regulations  to 
meet  the  new  conditions,  taking  the  public  service  en- 
tirely out  of  politics,  and  operating  it  strictly  on  busi- 
ness principles.  It  is  no  argument  at  all  to  say  that 
this  cannot  be  done,  because  it  can  be  done. 

That  part  of  our  Postal  Service  which  is  strictly 
under  Civil  Service  regulations,  viz.,  "the  Railway 
Mail  Service,"  is  completely  divorced  from  the  domi- 
nation of  politics.  The  several  thousand  of  men  who 
are  employed  in  it,  vote  in  the  elections,  but  further 
than  that  they  have  no  political  influence.  The  entire 
Public  service  should  be  on  the  same  basis.  Civil 
Service  Commissioners  should  be  elected  every  four 
years  by  the  people,  and  they  should  have  full  dele- 
gated authority  over  the  Public  Service  in  the  appoint- 
ment and  dismissal  of  employees ;  and  Superintendents 
should  be  elected  by  the  people  to  supervise  all  pub- 
lic works,  as  well  as  for  the  separate  departments  of 
the  Public  Service.  The  appointing  powers  of  the 
President  and  the  Governors  of  States  should  be  re- 
stricted to  purely  executive  departments  of  Govern- 
ment. 

Now,  how  are  the  people  to  secure  these  reforms? 
The  necessity  for  concertion  of  effort  is  the  first  con- 
sideration; and  that  cannot  be  had  unless  the  people 
nominate  and  elect  only  such  representatives  as  are 
in  full  sympathy  with  public  ownership,  and  their  in- 
terests as  against  those  of  corporations.  The  corpora- 
tions scheme  through  political  bosses  and  party  ma- 
chines to  get  their  own  candidates  nominated.     If 

48 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

they  succeed,  thus  defeating  the  choice  of  the  people, 
they  have  gained  their  point,  and  the  people  had  as 
we'-l  not  vote  in  the  general  elections,  which  have  be- 
come little  more  than  a  necessary  legal  endorsement 
to  the  action  of  party  leaders.  The  corporations  have 
no  party  convictions.  In  the  nominations  of  candidates 
by  the  several  parties,  if  they  can  control  them  so  as 
to  have  only  men  friendly  to  their  interests  nominated, 
the  will  of  the  people  is  defeated  before  any  election  is 
held,  no  matter  which  party  wins.  The  poHtical  boss 
is  the  product  of  the  corporations — their  hireling ;  and 
the  men  usually  nominated  and  elected  to  office  are 
the  servants  of  their  bosses,  and  the  pliant  tools  of 
the  corporations.  A  universal  sentiment  exists  that 
we  must  purify  politics  by  getting  rid  of  the  political 
boss,  and  compulsory  primary  election  laws  have  been 
suggested  as  the  means  to  secure  that  desired  purpose. 
Several  of  the  States  have  enacted  such  laws.  Wher- 
ever tried,  they  appear  to  meet  with  public  favor, 
and  to  partially  secure  the  end  desired;  but  it  has 
already  been  demonstrated  that  the  "boss"  gets  in  his 
work  in  the  primaries  just  as  he  formerly  did  in  the 
party  conventions,  though  not  quite  so  successfully. 
Primary  elections  have  not  been  tried  long  enough  to 
make  a  full  test  of  their  efficiency;  but  we  are  con- 
vinced that  a  better  plan  would  be  to  do  away  with 
party  nominations  altogether,  either  by  conventions  or 
primaries,  and  leave  the  general  elections  an  open 
field  for  all  aspirants.  Each  one  aspiring  to  office 
could  announce  his  own  candidacy,  and  present  his 
policies  and  claims  to  the  public  in  the  ablest  manner 
his  abilities  would  allow ;  but  the  use  of  money,  or 
the  promise  of  official  preferments  or  emoluments  to 
influence  voters  should  be  punishable  with  disfran- 
chisement for  life  and  the  ineligibility  ever  afterward 
to  hold  or  fill  any  elective  office  of  profit  or  trust.    The 

49 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

tickets  used  in  the  elections  should  be  printed  in  blank 
form,  and  each  voter  required  to  fill  them  out  in  his 
own  hand-writing,  by  writing  in  the  proper  spaces  the 
names  of  the  men  of  his  choice,  no  matter  whether 
they  be  the  names  of  any  of  the  self -announced  can- 
didates or  not.  Those  receiving  the  largest  plurality 
of  votes  should  be  declared  elected.  Any  man  elected 
to  public  office  should  be  required  to  serve  on  penalty 
of  disfranchisement,  unless  he  can  show  good  reason 
for  not  serving.  Intelligence  and  character  should  be 
made  the  qualification  for  the  voting  franchise.  Abil- 
ity to  fill  out  his  own  ticket  would  be  a  sufficient  test 
of  the  one,  and  the  testimony  of  his  neighbors  of  the 
other.  An  ignoramus  is  not  qualified  to  vote,  and  a 
bad  citizen  should  not  be  allowed  to  vote.  Proof  of 
the  acceptance  of  any  bribe  or  gift  by  the  voter  should 
be  punishable  with  disfranchisement  for  life. 

Perhaps  you  say  our  plan  would  not  do  because  it 
would  destroy  all  party  organization. 

The  bases  of  political  parties  are  certain,  particular 
views  on  the  policies  of  government  and  those  things 
would  continue  to  exist  the  same  as  they  do  now ;  but 
it  would  break  up  political  machines,  and  that  is  just 
what  is  wanted.  Political  machines  are  the  creatures 
and  the  allies  of  corporations,  and  are  just  as  inimical 
to  democratic  government.  Combinations  are  what 
we  are  seeking  to  destroy.  To  secure  these  reforms, 
and  to  make  them  permanent,  we  must  build  on  a  solid 
foundation  by  having  them  embodied  in  the  Federal 
Constitution  and  in  the  constitutions  of  the  States. 
We  will  here  mention  three  amendments  to  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  which  should  be  made : 

I.  Denying  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  the  right  to  pass  on  the  constitutionality  of 
Acts  passed^by  the  National  Congress. 

50 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

2.  The  election  of  United  States  Senators  by  popu- 
lar vote. 

3.  Limiting  individual  fortunes  to  $500,000. 
Then  will  the  way  be  cleared  for  public  ownership  of 

public  utilities.  In  the  near  future  it  is  going  to  be 
the  paramount  issue.  It  is  going  to  be  demanded  by 
an  intelligent  and  long-suffering  people.  "There  will 
be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth"  among  the  corpora- 
tion vampires;  but  in  the  end  we  will  have  Public 
Ownership  of  Public  Utilities  with  its  attendant  bless- 
ings to  the  Commonwealth. 

One  of  the  most  important  questions  affecting  the 
public  interest  is  the  future  use  of  water  power,  and 
the  conservation  of  our  rivers  and  mountain  streams 
by  which  it  will  be  supplied.  The  people  have  not 
yet  awakened  to  its  immense  importance.  About  the 
first  time  this  question  was  brought  to  public  attention 
was  when  President  Roosevelt  vetoed  *'the  Rainy 
River  dam  bill/'  passed  by  the  Sixtieth  Congress.  In 
that  session  of  the  Congress  more  than  forty  bills 
for  such  privileges  were  introduced,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  the  stand  taken  against  them  by  President 
Roosevelt,  they  would  have  passed  without  opposition. 
Under  our  present  system  of  elections,  the  men  whom 
we  elect  to  represent  us  in  the  Lower  House  of  the 
Congress,  are  as  much  the  tools  of  the  corporations  as 
the  United  States  Senators,  and  will  be  as  long  as  we 
have  "boss  rule"  and  "machine  politics."  While  it  has 
been  dead  easy  for  the  corporations,  or  their  dum- 
mies, to  secure  franchises  for  water-power  dams,  the 
few  independent  individuals,  who  had  no  connection 
with  the  corporations,  when  they  applied  for  similar 
privileges  were  turned  down.  That  is  how  much 
love  the  average  congressman  has  for  the  "dear 
people." 

The  Westinghouse  and  the  General  Electric,  and 

51 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

other  smaller  corporations,  already  control  more  than 
half  the  water  power  in  the  country.  The  smaller 
corporations  are  said  to  be  subsidiaries  of  the  two 
great  companies,  whose  connection  with  the  Steel 
Trust  and  Standard  Oil  can  be  easily  proved. 

The  riparian  rights  of  unnavigable  streams  include 
the  water,  and  are  vested  in  the  public.  The  same  is 
true  of  navigable  streams,  except  with  them  riparian 
rights  are  restricted  by  the  superior  claims  of  navi- 
gation which  belong  to  the  control  of  the  general 
Government. 

In  the  case  of  unnavigable  streams,  the  corporations 
have  obtained  the  shore  rights  by  the  purchase  of  the 
land,  and  secured  franchises  from  the  States.  In  the 
case  of  navigable  streams,  they  have  likewise  pur- 
chased the  riparian  rights,  secured  State  franchises, 
and,  in  addition,  privileges  from  the  Government  to 
secure  them  against  the  rights  of  navigation. 

They  first  secretly  sent  out  skilled  men  to  locate 
the  best  places;  to  measure  the  volume  of  water  and 
the  fall;  the  amount  of  rainfall,  and  the  variableness 
between  wet  and  dry  seasons.  They  have  done  these 
things  as  clandestinely  as  possible,  at  the  same  time 
exhibiting  a  haste  which  shows  that  they  are  afraid 
that  the  people  will  wake  up  to  what  they  are  doing, 
and  they  aim  to  fasten  on  it  by  securing  franchises  in 
advance.  If  they  succeed,  it  will  be  too  late  for  the 
people  except  by  a  revolution  in  government. 

Public  ownership  is  what  is  demanded,  and  the  cor- 
porations should  be  at  once  divested  of  what  they  have 
wrongfully  obtained ;  but  this  cannot  be  done  without 
first  making  the  Legislative  branch  of  government 
truly  representative  of  the  people's  will,  and  restrict- 
ing the  Judiciary  to  the  enforcement  of  law. 

Fuel,  both  coal  and  wood,  is  rapidly  growing  scarcer 
and  higher  in  price.     The  time  is  not  very  distant 

52 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

when  coal,  wood,  and  oil  will  be  practically  exhausted. 
Water  power  will  have  to  take  the  place  of  steam  in 
driving  machinery.  Electricity  will  take  the  place  of 
wood,  coal,  and  oil  in  heating  and  lighting.  Those 
who  live  in  the  cities  will  have  to  depend  on  electricity 
to  heat  their  houses  and  to  cook  their  food.  It  will 
become  the  dependence  of  many  farmers  for  heating, 
lighting  and  cooking.  Trains  on  the  railroads,  the 
machinery  in  our  mills  and  factories,  will  all  be  run 
by  electricity;  and  it  can  only  be  produced  by  the 
consumption  of  coal  or  wood,  or  water  power.  Water 
power  is  the  only  practical  force  in  nature  left  us 
when  fuel  is  exhausted.  The  end  of  that  is  in  sight ; 
but  water  power  is  perdurable.  The  protection  of  the 
forests  remaining,  and  the  reforesting  necessary  for 
the  conservation  of  our  streams  can  only  be  accom- 
plished by  the  National  and  State  governments.  The 
canalization  of  rivers  in  the  interest  of  navigation, 
and  the  construction  of  reservoirs  to  save  the  water 
for  use  in  the  dry  seasons,  are  also  strictly  public 
measures.  When  we  give  this  question  just  a  little 
study,  its  vast  magnitude  and  importance  become 
alarmingly  apparent. 

The  corporations  see  this,  and  are  laying  their 
schemes  far  into  the  future.  Where  they  could,  they 
have  secured  perpetual  franchises ;  and  where  they 
could  not,  have  gotten  franchises  for  99  years,  or  as 
great  a  length  of  time  as  possible. 

Their  plea  of  "Vested  rights"  must  not  be  allowed 
to  avail  them.  It  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  Com- 
mon Law  that  fraud  vitiates  and  annuls  any  contract ; 
and  they  secured  these  privileges  through  fraud.  The 
right  of  public  utilities,  including  ownership  and  con- 
trol, are  vested  in  the  people  alone,  and  cannot  be 
taken  away  except  by  fraud.  It  is  up  to  the  people 
to  own  and  control  public  utilities,  or  else  be  slaves. 

53 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    ADMINISTRATION     OF     LAW — THE    JUDICIARY,     "a 
THIEF  OF  jurisdiction" 

In  a  newspaper  article,  written  more  than  two  years 
ago,  and  published  in  "The  Chattanooga  Evening 
News,"  we  stated  that  the  Judiciary  had  arrogated 
to  itself  powers  of  jurisdiction,  especially  in  passing 
upon  the  constitutionality  of  law,  never  contemplated 
by  the  framers  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  It  was 
another  case  of  sowing  the  dragon's  teeth. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  present  year,  a  gentleman 
by  the  name  of  Griffith,  at  Pell  City,  Ala.,  wrote  an 
article  along  the  same  line  of  thought  as  ours,  which 
was  published  in  "The  Chattanooga  Daily  Times." 

We  do  not  mean  to  accuse  Mr.  Griffith  of  "Stealing 
our  clothes,"  for  we  are  only  glad  that  others  are 
thinking  on  this  subject  as  we  do. 

Since  the  publication  of  our  article,  referred  to 
above,  we  have  studied  the  subject  closely;  with  the 
result  that  we  have  modified  our  views  in  some  par- 
ticulars; but  we  are  more  fully  convinced  of  the 
correctness  of  our  position  on  the  main  points  for 
which  we  contended. 

We  have  a  Government  diflFerently  constructed  to 
any  which  ever  existed.  It  is  composed  of  "Wheels 
within  wheels."  The  townships  and  counties  com- 
posing each  State  have  a  local  jurisdiction  of  their 
own.  Then  come  the  States,  each  with  a  separate 
written  Constitution  to  suit  itself,  and  each  supposed 

54 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

to  be  completely  sovereign  in  all  purely  State  mat- 
ters, having  an  independent  jurisdiction  based  on  its 
written  Constitution.  Next  is  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, binding  the  States  into  one  indissoluble  Union, 
and  defining  the  powers  granted  to  the  Central  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  American  people  are  great  for  written  consti- 
tutions. They  must  have  a  constitution  for  almost 
everything.  If  it  is  only  a  small  country  "Debating 
Society,"  they  must  have  for  it  a  written  constitution 
as  long,  and  as  elaborately  worded,  as  the  Federal 
Constitution  itself. 

In  making  a  Constitution  for  a  National  or  State  gov- 
ernment, if  the  attempt  is  made  to  make  it  cover  more 
than  definitely  fixed  and  fundamental  principles,  they 
make  a  hide-bound  instrument  that  cannot  be  adapted 
to  changing  and  progressive  conditions;  and  for  that 
reason,  it  may  become  a  hindrance  to  necessary  re- 
forms, and  a  detriment  to  the  public  welfare. 

England  has  no  written  Constitution.  She  has  a 
Constitution,  but  it  is  unwritten,  and  has  been  slowly 
formed  by  agreement  and  precedent.  As  new  ques- 
tions of  national  importance  arose,  there  was  no  writ- 
ten Constitution  to  hinder  their  settlement;  and  they 
have  all  been  settled  by  the  enlightened  intelligence 
of  the  English  people,  as  represented  in  Parliament, 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  meet  the  needs  of  an  advanc- 
ing civilization.  Thus  the  English  Constitution  has 
grown  up  with  the  nation.  The  intelligence  and 
moral  conscience  of  the  English  people  is  the  soil  in 
which  it  is  planted,  and  where  it  lives  stronger  and 
more  enduring  than  her  century-defying  oaks. 

Parliament  makes  all  the  laws ;  for  in  England 
there  is  no  other  law-making  authority.  Her  courts 
have  never  passed  upon  the  constitutionality  of  any 
act  of  Parliament;  and  the  Crown  has  not  vetoed  a 

55 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

measure  of  Parliament  in  more  than  one  hundred  and 
sixty  years.  The  English  courts  properly  confine 
their  jurisdiction  to  the  interpretation  and  applica- 
tion of  law  in  the  trial  of  suits  in  court. 

If  a  law  is  found  to  work  to  the  detriment  of  the 
public  welfare,  the  people  soon  find  it  out,  and  de- 
mand of  Parliament  its  alteration  or  repeal. 

All  legislation  is  properly  originated  by  the  people, 
and  the  alteration  or  annulment  of  any  law  should 
also  rest  with  them. 

It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  because  Parliament 
passes  all  laws  in  England,  the  English  people  have 
no  voice  in  local  government;  for  they  have,  and 
quite  as  much  as  they  have  here  in  the  United  States ; 
and  when  the  English  people  influence  Parliament  to 
pass  a  law  needed  for  the  public  welfare,  there  is 
no  danger  of  the  courts  annulling  it  by  declaring  it 
unconstitutional. 

In  no  other  government  except  the  United  States 
do  the  courts  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  law. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  have  been  taught 
to  believe  that  the  right  of  the  Judiciary  to  pass  upon 
the  constitutionality  of  law  is  the  mainstay,  bulwark, 
and  defence  of  their  Civil  Liberties ;  instead,  they  are 
soon  to  wake  up  to  the  startling  fact  that  herein  lies 
the  chief  menace  of  free  institutions  and  common 
rights. 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  within  the  limits  of  truth 
when  he  called  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  "A  thief  of  jurisdiction." 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  was  crea- 
ted by  the  Federal  Constitution  to  interpret  and  apply 
the  laws  passed  by  the  Congress,  not  to  pass  upon 
their  constitutionality.  It  was  created  to  be  a  coordi- 
nate branch  of  the  Government ;  but  it  has  arrogated 

56 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

to  itself  powers  until  it  has  acquired  a  complete  domi- 
nancy  over  the  other  two  branches. 

President  Roosevelt  has  frequently  referred  to  the 
Congress  as  "The  coordinate  branch";  but  he  has 
too  much  sense  and  honor  to  ever  refer  to  the  Su- 
preme Court  as  a  coordinate  department;  for  he 
knows  that  the  chief  authority  of  our  Government  is 
allowed  to  the  black-gowned  gentlemen  of  the  Su- 
preme Court. 

You  may  talk  about  the  autocratic  government  of 
Russia;  but  the  Czar  of  all  the  Russias  has  not  the 
power  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court. 

No  Act  of  Congress  can,  in  fact,  become  a  law 
until  they  say  so;  and  by  the  process  of  injunction, 
they  can  call  out  the  strength  of  the  military  to  en- 
force their  restraining  orders. 

It  has  been  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  since 
our  Federal  Government  was  firmly  established  by  the 
ratification  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  When  it  was 
submitted  to  the  thirteen  original  States,  there  was 
strong  opposition  on  the  part  of  many  to  certain 
provisions,  which  they  claimed  gave  too  much  power 
to  the  Congress  and  to  the  Executive;  but  no  objec- 
tion was  made  to  the  jurisdiction  granted  to  the  Su- 
preme Court ;  for  the  reason,  that  in  the  Constitution, 
there  is  neither  mention  nor  suggestion  of  the  Court's 
right  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  law. 

Eleven  of  the  thirteen  States  ratified  the  Consti- 
tution by  small  majorities,  showing  the  almost  equal 
strength  of  the  opposition.  Virginia  inserted  the 
proviso  that  she  retained  the  right  to  withdraw  from 
the  Union  if  the  Central  Government  became  oppres- 
sive ;  and  New  York  refused  to  ratify  it  till  assured 
by  Alexander  Hamilton  that  the  military  could  not 
be  used  to  coerce  the  States. 

The  claim  is  commonly  made  that  the  right  of  the 

57 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Supreme  Court  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of 
law  is  inherent  in  the  Court.  We  will  agree,  that  in 
its  appellate  jurisdiction,  in  cases  going  up  to  it  from 
the  States,  on  questions  at  issue  between  two  States, 
or  of  a  citizen  of  one  State  against  another  State, 
the  right  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  pass  upon  the  con- 
stitutionality of  laws  enacted  by  State  legislatures, 
where  questions  clearly  affecting  the  "Bill  of  Rights" 
are  involved,  is  implied  by  the  very  nature  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,  and  necessary  to  governmental 
homogeneity  and  national  unity;  but  the  branches  of 
the  Central  Government,  the  Congress,  the  President, 
and  the  Supreme  Court,  were  declared  to  be  coordi- 
nate, which  means  equal.  If  either  branch  usurps  the 
power  to  annul  the  acts  done  by  either  of  the  others 
within  their  constitutionally  prescribed  prerogatives, 
they  are  then  no  longer  coordinate;  and  the  spirit 
and  the  intention  of  the  Constitution  is  violated.  The 
contention  that  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  has 
the  right  to  annul  an  Act  of  the  Congress  by  declaring 
it  unconstitutional,  is  illogical;  and  was  never  con- 
templated by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  nor  by 
the  citizens  of  the  States  by  whom  it  was  first  rati- 
fied. That  which  creates  should  alone  have  the  power 
to  destroy.  The  Congress  is  the  only  body  which 
can  make  laws  for  the  Nation,  and  it  alone  should 
have  the  right  to  unmake  them.  The  making  of  na- 
tional laws  is  a  constitutionally  granted  power  to 
the  Congress. 

Clause  i8  of  Section  viii,  "Powers  granted  to  Congress,"  reads. 
"To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  the  carry- 
ing into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested 
by  this  Constitution  in  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or 
any    department,    or   officer    thereof." 

No  one  can  study  the  Federal  Constitution  with  an 
unprejudiced  mind  without  being  convinced  that  it 
was  the  intention  of  those  who  framed  it  to  give  to 

58 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  Congress  the  most  ample  powers  of  the  three 
branches  of  Government.  The  Executive  is  second 
in  importance ;  and  the  Supreme  Court  is  the  last 
and  least  in  authority.  That  is  as  it  should  be.  The 
Congress,  which  is  composed  of  the  chosen  represen- 
tatives of  the  people,  should  have  the  largest  powers ; 
because  it  is  closest  to  the  people,  and  directly  rep- 
resentative of  their  will.  The  Judicial  Department, 
composed  of  men  appointed  by  the  Executive,  instead 
of  being  elected  by  the  people — for  a  term  of  office 
"during  good  behavior"  (which  is  now,  without  valid 
reason,  construed  to  mean  for  life),  is  the  furthest 
removed  from  the  people,  and  should,  therefore,  pos- 
sess the  least  power;  but  instead  of  this  being  true, 
it  has  usurped,  and  holds,  the  place  of  supreme 
authority  in  the  Government,  less  restricted  than  was 
the  imperial  will  of  the  Caesars. 

There  has  been  a  steady  and  persistent  purpose  on 
the  part  of  plutocracy  and  corporate  interests  to 
abridge  the  powers  of  the  Congress  and  the  Execu- 
tive, and  to  amplify  those  of  the  Judiciary.  In  doing 
this,  they  have  been  careful  to  manufacture  a  public 
sentiment  in  advance  to  support  them  in  their  exalta- 
tions of  the  functions  of  the  courts. 

We  have  but  lately  learned  that  when  there  is  a 
Judge  to  be  appointed  or  elected,  that  the  corpora- 
tions put  forth  stronger  efforts  to  get  a  Judge  favor- 
able to  their  interests  than  for  any  other  officer;  but 
they  do  it  in  such  a  covert  way  as  to  deceive  the  pub- 
lic. The  first  of  this  present  year,  death  made  a  va- 
cancy in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Tennes- 
see. Pending  the  time  of  the  regular  election,  the 
place  was  to  be  filled  by  gubernatorial  appointment. 
There  were  a  number  of  applicants  who  brought  to 
bear  on  the  Governor  the  strength  of  all  the  endorse- 
ments_they  could  secure.    The  people  knew  this  in  a 

59 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

way;  but  they  did  not  know  that  the  railroad  compa- 
nies sent  out  men  secretly  to  buy  up  the  newspapers 
in  support  of  their  candidate,  and  to  make  such  po- 
litical deals  with  politicians  as  they  could  for  the  same 
purpose.  During  the  time,  we  stepped  into  the  edi- 
torial office  of  one  of  our  papers  one  day,  and  as  we 
entered,  the  editor  remarked,  ''The  gentleman,  who 
just  went  out  as  you  came  in,  was  a  railroad  repre- 
sentative, who  was  here  to  see  us  about  supporting 
their  candidate  for  Judge."  The  editor  may  accuse 
us  of  violating  confidence ;  but  the  confidence  of  the 
people  is  violated  when  these  things  are  kept  from 
them  by  those  who  pretend  to  serve  them.  We  will 
observe,  in  passing,  that  the  railroad  candidate  re- 
ceived the  appointment. 

There  was  a  vacancy  made  by  death  in  the  United 
States  District  Court  here  this  summer;  among  the 
candidates  who  pressed  their  claims  on  the  Presi- 
dent for  appointment,  was  one  lawyer,  who  went 
from  this  city  to  Washington  with  a  delegation  ac- 
companying him,  who  represented  to  the  President 
that  the  gentleman's  chief  claim  for  the  appointment 
was  that  he  was  not  a  corporation  lawyer ;  this,  when 
we  knew  back  here  at  home,  that  he  had  been  in  the 
legal  service  of  corporations  for  years. 

One  of  the  leading  ministers  of  this  city  told  us 
that  he  happened  one  day  to  go  on  the  cars  to  the 
top  of  Lookout  Mountain  in  company  with  a  certain 
United  States  Judge.  He  said  when  the  conductor 
came  along  to  take  up  the  fares,  the  honorable  Judge 
took  out  of  his  pocket  a  "complimentary  pass."  We 
could  relate  many  similar  incidents.  First,  by  aid 
given  them  in  their  appointment  or  election;  after- 
ward, by  complimentary  passes  over  railroads,  and 
other  things  unknown  to  the  public,  the  judges  are 
put  under  obligation  to  corporations.     To  accept  a 

60 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

free  pass,  or  any  like  favor,  is  to  accept  a  bribe;  for 
more  or  less  of  an  obligation  is  imposed  by  the  ac- 
ceptance of  any  gift. 

What  can  the  people  accomplish  through  the  Con- 
gress, or  the  State  legislatures  in  the  way  of  reme- 
dial or  reform  legislation,  or  what  can  the  Executive 
do  in  the  execution  and  enforcement  of  such  laws, 
when  confronted  by  a  Court  of  arrogated  powers,  con- 
trolled by  corporate  interests,  in  opposition? 

The  Congress  could  have  prevented  the  Judiciary 
from  assuming  unconstitutional  authority;  and  it  is 
clearly  within  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  Con- 
gress to  regulate  the  Courts,  and  to  divest  them  of 
their  arrogated  claims.  The  superior  powers  of  the 
Congress,  and  the  restricted  jurisdiction  of  the 
Courts,  are  unequivocally  set  forth  in  the  Constitu- 
tion. The  province  of  the  United  States  courts  is  to 
adjudicate  questions  of  international  law,  and  to 
make  trial  by  jury  of  crimes  committed  against  the 
Government  according  to  the  Acts  of  Congress  and 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

We  find,  in 

Clause  ^  2,  Section  ii,  of  Article  iii,  (Judicial  Department  of  the 
Constitution)  these  words:  "In  all  other  cases  before  mentioned, 
the  Supreme  Court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law 
and  fact,  with  such  exceptions,  and  under  such  regulations  as  the  Con- 
gress shall  make." 

In  Clause  3  of  the  same  Section  and  Article,  we  find 
this : 

"The  trial  of  all  crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be 
by  jury.  And  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said 
crimes  shall  have  been  committed;  but  when  not  committed  within  any 
State,  the  trial  shall  be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the  Congress  may  by 
law   have   directed." 

So  we  see  that  the  Supreme  Court  is  not  granted  by 
the  Constitution  the  right  or  the  power  to  make  or  un- 
make the  laws  for  the  Nation. 

61 


THE   DRAGON^S   TEETH 

A  constant  effort  has  all  along  been  made  to  re- 
move government  as  far  as  possible  from  the  control 
of  the  people.  The  representatives  of  great  individ- 
ual and  corporate  wealth  know  that  the  Judiciary  is 
further  removed  from  popular  control  than  either  of 
the  other  branches  of  government.  It  is  their  purpose 
and  constant  endeavor  to  increase  the  powers  of  the 
Judiciary,  and  to  diminish  the  powers  of  the  Legis- 
lative and  Executive;  and  all  the  while  they  are  do- 
ing this,  they  try  to  fool  the  people  by  crying  "the 
sacred  authority  of  the  Courts  and  the  Constitution." 
They  are  great  sticklers  for  the  Constitution,  if  al- 
lowed to  interpret  it  for  themselves.  If  any  one  says 
anything  in  protest,  he  is  at  once  set  down  as  an  an- 
archist or  socialist,  and  a  dangerous  citizen ;  and  they 
make  a  sham-  of  holding  up  their  hands  in  holy  hor- 
ror that  any  one  should  be  so  ignorant  or  so  base  as 
to  criticise  the  courts.  The  subsidized  Press,  and 
the  corporation  speakers,  are  loud  and  eloquent  in 
their  defense  of  "the  sacred  authority  of  the  courts" — 
particularly  so  in  defending  their  arrogated  right  to 
pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  law — seldom  failing 
to  work  in  that  old  saw,  "That  the  right  of  the  courts 
to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  law  is  the  bul- 
wark of  the  people's  liberties,  and  necessary  to  the 
preservation  of  our  free  institutions."  The  sophisti- 
cal force  of  this  argument  consists  in  the  fact  that 
every  good  citizen  is  agreed  upon  the  necessity  of 
upholding  the  courts  in  the  enforcement  of  law  and 
order,  that  the  people  may  be  left  to  the  peaceful 
pursuits  of  happiness,  protected  in  life  and  in  their 
honest  possessions  from  injustice  or  any  form  of  un- 
lawful aggression;  but  the  right  to  pass  upon  the 
constitutionality  of  law  is  not  essential  thereto.  While 
the  Supreme  Court  is  allowed  to  retain  that  arrogated 
jurisdiction,  it  is  not  a  coordinate  branch  of  the  Gov- 

62 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ernment;  but  is,  instead,  the  supreme  dominating 
power.  If  the  Court  was  truly  representative  of  all 
the  people — incorrupt  and  incorruptible — it  might 
with  safety  be  entrusted  with  this  great  power;  but 
to  do  so,  even  then,  it  would  still  be  illogical;  for  if 
the  Court  was  truly  representative,  as  is  the  Execu- 
tive and  the  Lower  House  of  Congress,  it  would  favor 
the  enforcement  of  laws  desired  by  the  people  and  en- 
acted for  the  public  welfare,  and  would  be  willing 
that  the  people  themselves  should  test  their  constitu- 
tionality on  that  principle.  The  Federal  Constitution 
was  itself  based  upon  the  public  welfare ;  and  every 
law  which  conserves  the  Common  Good  is,  from  that 
fact  alone,  constitutional;  and  who  can  better  judge 
of  that  than  the  people  by  making  an  actual,  practical 
test  of  the  law  by  having  it  impartially  enforced  ?  The 
Public  Welfare  is  the  basis  of  the  Constitution.  It  is, 
therefore,  the  only  correct  test  of  constitutionality, 
and  that  test  cannot  otherwise  be  made  except  by  the 
people. 

There  is  an  old  saying  that  "The  best  way  to  kill 
a  bad  law  is  to  enforce  it."  If  any  law  passed  by  the 
Congress  was  found  to  be  detrimental  to  the  Public 
Welfare  after  having  been  impartially  enforced,  the 
people  would  soon  discover  the  fact,  and  would  de- 
mand of  the  Congress  its  alteration  or  repeal.  As  it 
is,  the  arrogant  Court  falsely  applies  the  technicalities 
of  construction  as  the  test  of  constitutionality,  and 
the  people  are  not  permitted  to  try  their  own  laws  by 
the  Public  Welfare  standard.  The  Court  says,  in  ef- 
fect, to  the  people,  "You  don't  know  what  you  want, 
or  what  is  good  for  you  to  have.  We  are  your  con- 
stitutionally appointed  guardian,  and  will  only  let  you 
have  such  laws  as  we  think  are  best." 

The  Congress,  which  should  be  the  people's  cham- 
pion, like  Sampson  of  old,  slept  while  it  was  shorn 

63 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

of  its  power.  The  corporate  interests  have  discov- 
ered some  kind  of  a  powerful  potion  which  puts  the 
Congress  into  a  condition  of  soporific  somnolency.  If 
it  is  pricked  into  a  semblance  of  activity  by  the  press- 
ure of  public  sentiment,  and  forced  to  pass  some  law 
demanded  by  the  people,  you  behold  the  humiliating 
spectacle  of  the  National  Congress  trifling  in  uncer- 
tainty with  great  measures  which  are  demanded  by 
justice,  decency,  the  public  morals,  and  the  Public 
Welfare,  and  splitting  hairs  on  trumped-up,  constitu- 
tional technicalities.  When  they  have  finally  framed 
some  measure  for  enactment  couched  in  ambiguous 
phraseology,  every  essential  feature  crippled  or  nulli- 
fied by  inserted  provisions  and  amendments,  they  tack 
a  "Court  Review  Clause"  to  the  tail  of  it,  and  pass 
it  with  the  old  name  of  "An  Act  of  Congress";  but 
just  as  soon  as  the  executive  authorities  attempt  to 
enforce  it  as  a  law,  some  corporation  carries  it  up  to 
the  Supreme  Court,  which  promptly  declares  it  to  be 
unconstitutional  on  a  technical  interpretation  of  some 
clause,  as  it  was  expected  by  the  Congress  that  it 
would  do.  You  must  be  very  careful  to  use  the  word 
up  when  speaking  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court;  for  it  is  extremely  jealous  of  its  authority,  and 
desires  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  it  is  im- 
measurably elevated  above  every  other  department  of 
the  Government.  And,  about  that  "Court  Review 
Clause" — that  was  not  thought  of  until  after  more 
than  one  hundred  years.  It  was  a  trick  of  the  cor- 
porations to  bring  about  the  complete  surrender  of 
the  Congress  to  the  Supreme  Court;  and  they  suc- 
ceeded. The  people  wondered  at  this  new  innova- 
tion, but  made  no  effective  protest.  As  the  matter 
now  stands,  if  the  people  are  successful  in  getting 
passed  any  remedial  legislation  looking  to  the  re- 
straint of  corporate  aggression,  either  in  the  National 

64 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Congress  or  the  State  legislatures,  as  soon  as  brought 
before  the  courts  they  are  declared  unconstitutional. 
If  an  Act  in  the  least  interferes  with  corporate  in- 
terests, it  is  declared  to  be  an  infringement  on  "vested 
rights";  or,  that  it  is  "confiscatory,"  and  therefore 
unconstitutional.  We  believe  in  the  protection  of 
vested  rights,  but  we  do  not  endorse  the  defense  of 
vested  mrongs;  and  we  do  not  term  that  confiscation 
which  returns  to  its  rightful  owners  what  was  un- 
justly taken  away.  Under  our  present  system  of 
brow-beating  monopoly :  "The  vested  wrongs'*  of  to- 
day become  the  "vested  rights  of  tomorrow";  and 
the  people  will  never  obtain  relief  until  the  Federal 
Constitution  is  amended  by  denying  to  the  Supreme 
Court  the  right  to  annul  Acts  of  Congress  by  declar- 
ing them  unconstitutional. 

Where  are  rights  vested,  if  not  in  the  people  ?  The 
Public  Welfare  is  paramount  to  any  individual  or  cor- 
porate claim.  The  representatives  of  plutocracy  and 
corporate  wealth  talk  eloquently  of  ''property  rights." 
Property  has  no  rights  of  its  own  apart  from  individ- 
uals. We  need  to  consider  less  the  rights  of  prop- 
erty, and  to  respect  more  the  rights  of  men;  and  in 
considering  the  rights  of  men,  we  should  include  all 
the  citizens  of  the  Nation  as  one  people,  each  and 
all  equally  entitled  to  the  protection  of  law  and  the 
benefits  of  good  government,  irrespective  of  class 
distinctions. 

Notwithstanding  the  strenuous  denial,  our  courts 
are  dominated  by  corporation  influence;  and  the 
courts,  in  their  arrogated  jurisdiction,  dominate  the 
Government. 

The  States,  in  their  several  independently  sovereign 
capacities,  have  what  are  called  "State  Supreme 
Courts";  and  they,  in  imitation  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  claim  the  right  to  pass  upon  the  con- 

65 


THE   DRAGON^S-  TEETH 

stitutionality  of  laws  enacted  by  the  Legislatures  of 
the  States.  In  doing  so,  they  arrogate  to  themselves 
the  authority  which  alone  belongs  of  right  to  the  Uni- 
ted States  Supreme  Court.  As  we  have  said  before, 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court  has  the  necessarily 
inherent  authority  to  pass  on  the  constitutionality  of 
laws  enacted  by  State  Legislatures,  wherever,  and 
whenever,  they  are  brought  into  question  as  aflfecting 
the  common  privileges  of  citizens  in  opposition  to  the 
plain  provisions  of  the  **Bill  of  Rights,"  as  set  forth 
in  the  Federal  Constitution;  because  the  State  gov- 
ernments must,  of  necessity,  be  subordinate  to  the 
Federal  Government  in  all  matters  affecting  the  na- 
tional unity.  Union  cannot  exist  between  antagonis- 
tic governments.  For  our  Union  to  remain  perpetual, 
the  governments  and  laws  of  the  States  must  be  kept 
in  harmony  with  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
Federal  Government;  and  in  that  exists  the  necessity 
for  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  to  have,  in  its 
appellate  jurisdiction,  the  right  to  pass  upon  the  con- 
stitutionality of  State  enactments,  when  properly 
brought  before  it  for  adjudication. 

The  summary  of  our  argument  is  this:  The  so- 
called  State  Supreme  Courts  should  be  limited  in 
their  jurisdiction  to  the  interpretation  of  State  laws 
in  the  trial  of  causes  appealed  to  them  from  the  lower 
State  courts;  and  from  them,  the  litigants  should  al- 
ways have  the  privilege  to  appeal  to  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court;  but  the  State  Supreme  Courts 
should  not  have  the  right  to  pass  upon  the  constitu- 
tionality of  Acts  of  the  Legislatures ;  for  that  is  clear- 
ly the  proper  province  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  which  has  the  right  to  pass  upon  the  constitu- 
tionality of  laws  enacted  by  State  Legislatures,  but 
none  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  Acts  of 
Congress.    The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

should  have  all  the  jurisdiction  which  is  clearly  de- 
fined in  the  Federal  Constitution,  but  no  more.  The 
right  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  Acts  of 
Congress  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Constitution,  is  il- 
logical, opposed  to  progress,  subversive  of  the  Public 
Welfare,  which  is  the  end  and  aim  of  good  govern- 
ment, and  should  be  denied. 

We  are  as  much  in  favor  of  the  integrity  of  the 
courts  as  any  one ;  that  is  the  very  reason  why  we  are 
opposed  to  their  corruption;  and  what  is  likely  to 
be  more  corrupting  than  the  exercise  of  too  much 
power  ? 

We  would  not  take  from  the  courts  a  single  legiti- 
mate right  of  jurisdiction;  even  their  restraining 
powers  in  the  issuing  of  Writs  of  Injunction  should 
not  be  abridged,  except  that  they  should  not  issue 
till  after  a  fair  trial  by  jury.  The  Constitution  says 
that  "All  trial  shall  be  by  jury,"  and  that  "The  trial 
shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  crime  was  com- 
mitted." The  courts,  in  recent  years,  have  frequent- 
ly violated  these  plain  constitutional  provisions. 
There  is  no  power  to  call  them  to  account  for  it  ex- 
cept the  Congress,  and  this  the  cowardly,  corporation 
controlled  Congress  has  failed  to  do. 

Public  sentiment  has  forced  both  the  great  polit- 
ical parties  to  incorporate  in  their  national  platforms 
what  is  popularly  termed  "anti-injunction  planks"; 
but  the  plank  in  each  platform  is  prefaced  with  obse- 
quious expressions  of  confidence  in  the  purity  and  in- 
tegrity of  the  courts,  and  a  fulsome  laudation  of  them 
as  constituting  the  bulwark  of  our  liberties. 

No  essential  reform  in  the  restraint  of  corporate 
greed  will  be,  or  can  be  eflfected  until  the  United 
vStates  Supreme  Court  is  denied  the  right  to  pass  upon 
the  constitutionality  of  Acts  of  Congress. 

The  people  used  to  have  confidence  in  the  courts; 

67 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

and  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic,  before  they 
came  to  be  dominated  by  corporation  influence,  they 
deserved  confidence. 

The  leaders  of  the  old  aristocracy,  who  adroitly  got 
the  tacit  consent  of  the  people  that  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  should  pass  upon  the  constitutionality 
of  law,  employed  for  their  purpose  the  sophistical 
plea  that  it  would  be  the  best  safeguard  to  their  lib- 
erties; while  the  real  reason  was  that  they  feared  to 
give  too  much  power  to  the  common  people;  (the 
rabble  J  as  Alexander  Hamilton  termed  them;)  they 
were,  nevertheless,  honest  men,  and  advocated  what 
they  thought  was  best  for  the  Nation, — particularly 
the  aristocratic  part  of  the  Nation.  However,  cor- 
porations did  not  then  exist  to  any  harmful  extent, 
and  justice  ruled  in  our  courts. 

In  the  good  old  days,  the  sittings  of  the  courts 
were  occasions  of  great  popular  interest.  The  citi- 
zens for  miles  around  would  ride  into  Court  to  hear 
the  law  expounded  by  the  Judge,  and  big  lawyers  at 
the  Bar,  and  incidently — to  swap  horses,  meet  old 
acquaintances,  and  form  new  ones.  Each  man,  as  he 
was  liable  to  be  called  at  any  time  to  act  as  a  juror, 
considered  himself  a  part  of  the  Court.  We  need 
a  restoration  of  something  like  that  now,  a  confidence 
in,  and  a  respect  for  the  courts,  which  the  people  had 
in  those  good  old  days ;  and  to  do  this,  the  first  thing 
necessary  is  to  divest  the  courts  of  their  arrogated 
powers,  and  confine  their  jurisdiction  within  consti- 
tutional limits.  The  next  essential,  is  to  restore  to 
the  Congress  its  constitutional  prerogatives,  and  make 
it  truly  representative.  It  should  be  the  supreme 
branch  of  the  Government,  and  the  all-powerful 
champion  of  the  people  in  giving  voice  and  authori- 
tative expression  to  their  will,  from  which  no  appeal 
could  be  taken  except  to  the  people  themselves.     It 

68 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

cannot,  however,  be  made  a  perfectly  representative 
body  until  the  members  of  the  Upper  House  are  elec- 
ted by  popular  vote; — but  we  will  treat  that  subject 
in  another  place. 

The  Acts  of  Congress  used  to  issue  forth  clothed 
with  the  dignity  and  authority  of  law.  That  dignity, 
and  that  authority,  must  be  fully  restored,  and  the 
will  of  the  people  made  supreme. 

CHAPTER  V 

STANDARD  OIL  AT  THE  BAR 

We  have  just  read  in  a  daily  paper  that  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  in  Chicago,  Ills.,  yes- 
terday, July  22y  1908,  reversed  and  remanded  the  case 
of  the  Government  against  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany of  Indiana,  in  which  Judge  Landis,  in  the  Uni- 
ted States  District  Court,  had  imposed  a  fine  of 
$29,240,000. 

Judge  Grosscup,  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court 
of  Appeals,  delivered  the  decision,  which  was  con- 
curred in  by  his  associate  justices.  Seaman  and  Baker. 
The  headlines  of  the  article  read: 

"$29,000,000  Fine  Killed.  Decision  is  Strong  for 
the  Oil  Company.  Standard  Oil  People  Make  No 
Effort  to  Conceal  Their  Joy  Over  The  Victory." 

This  celebrated  case  has  attracted  world-wide  at- 
tention. The  criminal  before  the  Bar  was  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company,  the  wealthiest  and  most  powerful 
corporation  in  the  United  States, — perhaps,  in  the 
world;  a  corporation  which  has  grown  fabulously 
rich  and  masterful  by  sweeping  all  competitors  from 
its  path  with  a  ruthless  hand.  By  cunning  manipula- 
tion, and  the  dishonest  use  of  money,  it  acquired  the 
control  of  banks,  of  stocks   and  bonds,  of  railroads,  of 

69 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  great  commercial  and  manufacturing  industries, 
whereby  it  has  been  enabled  to  dominate  the  busi- 
ness interests  of  the  country,  to  compel  the  railroads 
to  g^ve  it  rebates  and  discriminating  concessions  in 
freight  rates,  and  to  drive  every  competing  company 
in  the  oil-field  out  of  business.  In  defiance  of  the 
law,  it  has  violated  every  principle  of  industrial  free- 
dom and  equity.  By  a  highly  perfected  system  of 
scientific  robbery,  which  affects  more  or  less  every 
business  and  industry  in  the  United  States,  it  has 
built  up  a  mighty  pyramid  of  stolen  millions,  from 
the  golden  summit  of  which  the  sainted  arch-manipu- 
lator, John  D.  Rockefeller,  looks  arrogantly  down  on 
the  rest  of  his  fellow-citizens.  As  a  sop  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  for  his  own  personal  aggrandizement  and  ex- 
ploitation, in  the  pose  of  a  pious  philanthropist,  he 
occasionally  gives  a  few  hundred  thousand  to  some 
college;  but  he  usually  sees  to  it  that  some  pliant 

tool  of  his  choice,  like  Chancellor  of  

University,  is  placed  at  the  head  of  it,  to  debauch 
public  sentiment  in  the  great  centers  of  education. 

Rockefeller  boasted  at  the  first  that  he  would  never 
have  to  pay  the  fine  imposed  by  Judge  Landis'  Court. 
In  the  meantime,  he  has  talked  for  publication  to 
newspaper  reporters,  in  church,  in  Sunday-school. 
From  a  close-mouthed  man  of  business,  changed  into 
a  garrulous  old  moralizer,  prating  to  women  and  chil- 
dren, and  giving  pious  counsel  to  young  men.  He 
oflFered  his  services  to  the  Government  to  assist  in 
restoring  public  confidence  in  the  panic  of  last  fall, 
after  he  had  been  the  principal  agent  in  causing  it, 
and  has  courted  public  favor  in  various  ways.  He 
has  many  supporters  and  apologists.  Corporation 
sycophants  refer  to  him  as  "A  great  captain  of  in- 
dustry-." Those  who  a  few  hundred  years  ago  were 
called   "robber-chiefs,"    are    now    honorably    titled 

70 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

"Captains  of  industry."     They  dine  with  kings,  and 
hobnob  with  royalty. 


The  above,  regarding  the  Standard  Oil  king,  was 
written  in  1908.  It  is  now  19 10.  The  recent  action 
of  that  gentleman  seems  to  demand  a  modification  of 
our  former  opinions. 

We  wish  it  distinctly  understood  that  it  has  been 
foreign  to  our  purpose  to  attack  the  private  life  and 
character  of  any  man.  Our  fight  is  not  on  indivi- 
duals, but  against  the  system  that  makes  a  thousand 
paupers  to  one  millionaire. 

Mr.  Rockefeller  and  others  look  at  these  questions 
through  their  millions,  or  their  self-interest  on  that 
side ;  we  look  at  them  through  our  poverty ;  they  look 
at  them  from  cool  palmetto  shades ;  we  look  at  them 
from  a  brow  perspiring  with  toil; — colored  specta- 
cles, which  might  bias  our  judgment  as  well  as  theirs. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  things  pointed  to 
by  talented  defenders  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company 
in  its  defense: 

"That  it  is  an  American  institution,  dealing  in  an 
American  product,  employing  mostly  American  labor, 
using  equipment  of  American  invention,  and  doing 
business  on  American  principles;  that  it  is  the  largest 
employer  of  labor  in  the  world,  pays  the  best  wages, 
— even  higher  than  the  'Union  Scale,' —  and  has 
never  had  any  strikes  among  its  employees;  that  it 
is  the  largest  exporter  of  American  products,  bring- 
ing into  the  United  States  from  foreign  countries 
two  hundred  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  day,  which,  it 
is  claimed,  immediately  finds  its  way  through  all  the 
channels  of  American  trade;  that  it  is  organized  on 
the  American  plan — on  a  scale  and  in  a  way  that  the 
competition  of  the  world  fades  before  it;  that  its 
success  has  turned  on  the  selection  of  men  and  its 

71 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

service  to  the  public;  that  the  position  of  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company  in  the  commercial  world  is  the 
result  of  competition — the  commercial  struggle  for 
existence — the  survival  of  the  fittest;  that  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company  vi^ent  into  a  free-for-all  field,  and 
won  its  way  to  fortune  with  the  same  tools  and  wea- 
pons that  all  its  competitors  had,  asking  no  favors 
and  giving  none,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  game ; 
that  it  only  did  to  its  competitors  what  its  com- 
petitors would  have  done  to  it  if  they  could;  that 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  is  made  up  of  the  grad- 
uates of  the  University  of  Hard  Knocks  who  began 
without  capital,  played  the  game  according  to  Amer- 
ican rules,  and  won  because  its  managers  had  the 
foresight,  patience,  and  skill,  and  that  the  men  who 
went  down  before  it,  failed  for  lack  of  those  Ameri- 
can qualities — qualities  taught  in  our  schools,  extolled 
in  our  books,  sometimes  preached  from  our  pulpits — 
the  qualities  that  have  made  Americans  victors  in 
every  field  of  material  achievement;  that  Standard 
Oil  communities,  wherever  established,  as  Titusville, 
Oil  City,  Corry,  Franklin,  Olean,  are  prosperous  and 
contented;  that  the  Standard  Oil  Company  meets  its 
obligations,  and  never  defaults  on  a  pay  roll ;  that  it 
pays  to  its  employees  about  as  much  as  it  keeps  for 
itself;  that  it  has  cheapened  the  price  of  oil  to  the 
consumer. 

"Furthermore,  it  is  claimed  by  those  who  write  in 
its  defense,  that  the  interference  with  private  rights 
and  the  threatened  confiscation  of  property,  caused 
the  panic  of  1907,  and  that  the  same  would  occur 
again  if  the  Standard  Oil  Company  and  other  large 
corporations  were  interfered  with;  that  business  is 
necessarily  a  struggle  for  supremacy,  a  fight  to  the 
finish;  that  business  is  built  on  confidence,  and  when 
we  destroy  faith  in  our  commercial  fabric,  we  take 

72 


THE  DRAGON'S   TEETH 

the  roofs  from  the  homes  of  the  poor,  food  from  their 
children,  and  push  them  out  naked  to  the  pitiless 
storm." 

Now,  there  is  an  element  of  truth  in  all  of  the 
above  contention. 

It  is  true  that  the  Standard  Oil  Company  deals  in 
an  American  product,  and  that  it  employs  mostly 
American  labor.  It  is  true  that  the  Standard  Oil 
Company's  machinery  and  equipment  is  of  American 
invention,  but  it  is  employed  to  cheapen  labor  and  the 
cost  of  production  for  the  sole  profit  of  the  owners. 

The  claim  that  the  Standard  Oil  Company  pays 
the  highest  wages  of  any  other  corporation  is  prob- 
ably true.  It  is  claimed  that  it  pays  its  employees 
$50,000,000  annually.  That  is  a  large  sum,  but  the 
Standard  Oil  Company  has  80,000  employees.  Fifty 
million  dollars  divided  by  80,000  gives  $625  as  the 
average  yearly  wage  to  each  employee.  We  cannot 
understand  how  its  employees  can  be  prosperous  and 
contented  on  that  amount  when  we  know  that,  with  the 
present  high  cost  of  living,  a  man  with  a  family  can- 
not live  in  comfort  on  less  than  about  twice  that  sum. 
If  they  are  contented,  it  shows  with  what  little  work- 
ing people  will  be  content. 

The  two  hundred  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  day 
brought  into  the  United  States  from  foreign  countries 
is  no  inconsiderable  help  to  trade,  besides  helping  to 
keep  the  money  balance  on  the  American  side;  but 
the  Standard  Oil  has  no  especial  reason  to  boast  that 
this  sum  at  once  enters  the  channels  of  trade,  be- 
cause the  channels  of  trade  must  be  kept  in  circula- 
tion else  production  would  cease. 

It  is  true  that  the  standing  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  in  the  commercial  world  is  the  result  of 
competition;  but,  the  survival  of  the  strongest  rather 
than  of  the  fittest     It  is  the  rule  of  "Every  fellow 

73 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

for  himself,  and  the  devil  take  the  hindmost."  A 
doctrine  applicable  to  the  ages  of  barbarism,  but  one 
that  should  have  no  place  among-  a  civilized  people. 
From  the  principles  of  moral  equity  and  obligation 
we  have  coined  the  beautiful  word  humanity,  and 
humanity  demands  a  fairer  and  juster  system. 

The  argument  that  the  Standard  Oil  Company  did 
to  its  competitors  what  they  would  have  done  to  it 
is  a  sorry  come  off;  any  criminal  could  make  that 
excuse  with  equal  propriety. 

That  the  Standard  Oil  Company's  success  is  an 
exemplification  of  American  principles  is  not  only 
true,  it  is  a  national  shame,  and,  that  the  cause  for 
this  lies  in  education  is  not  a  matter  for  pride,  but 
for  serious  consideration  with  a  view  to  a  complete 
reformation. 

Public  service  must  be  made  the  only  road  to  fame 
and  the  nation's  goal. 

The  boast  that  the  Standard  Oil  Company  makes 
about  an  equal  division  of  its  profits  between  itself 
and  its  employees  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  seven 
men  keep  as  their  supposedly  just  share  as  much  as 
the  80,000  laborers  who  made  it  for  them.  While 
the  laborers  get  $625  apiece,  the  owners  get  $6,000,- 
000  each.  Does  anyone  think  that  is  a  just  propor- 
tion and  division? 

The  Standard  Oil  Company  has  made  the  claim 
in  court  that  it  has  done  everything  in  its  power 
to  cheapen  the  price  of  oil.  In  view  of  the  enormous 
profits  which  it  has  made,  let  all  who  believe  that 
hold  up  their  hands.  They  must  mean  that  the  price 
of  oil  was  reduced  to  the  lowest  limit  at  the  oil  wells ; 
for  the  Standard  Oil  Company  has  never  owned  the 
oil  wells,  but,  controlling  transportation,  it  has  forced 
the  owners  of  the  oil  wells  to  take  whatever  price 
it  was   willing  to  give  them.    We  will  admit  that 

74 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

the  Standard  Oil  Company  has  cheapened  the  price 
of  oil  to  the  consumer;  but  that  is  a  matter  of  little 
consequence  in  comparison  with  the  high  cost  of  liv- 
ing which  it,  together  with  other  corporations,  has 
helped  to  bring  about,  but  the  worst  feature  of  the 
system  is  that  the  very  millions  which  the  people 
have  paid  to  the  Standard  Oil  Company  hangs  over 
them  as  a  colossal  debt  on  which  they  will  year 
after  year  have  to  pay  interest  out  of  the  fruits  of 
their  toil.  Only  the  ignorance  of  the  people  has 
permitted  such  a  system  to  be  perpetuated.  The  il- 
logical injustice  and  tragedy  of  it  all  makes  us  sick 
at  heart. 

The  mere  insistence  on  civic  righteousness  in  1907 
was  enough  to  bring  on  a  panic.  We  have  elsewhere 
fully  explained  this. 

We  know  that  the  great  corporations  have  the 
power  to  put  labor  out  of  employment,  to  reduce 
wages,  to  increase  the  cost  of  living,  to  take  the  roofs 
off  the  homes  of  the  poor,  and  to  deny  bread  to  hun- 
gry women  and  children;  we  know  that  hunger 
makes  men  desperate — makes  them  criminals — ^the 
hungry  mob  has  no  regard  for  law  and  sets  at  naught 
constituted  authority,  as  instance  the  Revolution  in 
France ;  the  police  power  has  to  be  increased,  and 
methods  of  the  most  rigorous  repression  adopted. 
Only  the  other  day,  in  one  of  our  large  cities,  men 
were  shot  down  in  the  streets  by  the  police  as  if  they 
were  mad  dogs.  As  legalized  oppression  increases, 
the  police  power  has  to  be  correspondingly  augmented. 

That  the  mere  insistence  on  civic  righteousness  in 
1907  should  bring  on  a  panic  shows  how  serious  is 
our  national  condition.  It  is  now  impossible  that  any 
permanent  reformation  could  be  made  without  caus- 
ing general  and  wide-spread  suffering.  Any  party 
elected  to  ^ower,  in  view  of  the  inevitable  panic  and 

75 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

disaster  among  the  masses  for  a  time  which  would 
be  sure  to  follow,  would  hesitate  to  make  a  change; 
besides,  the  farmer  class,  being  the  only  class  of  la- 
boring men  who  are  getting  any  benefit  from  high 
prices,  together  with  the  cliental  dependents  of  the 
corporations  and  the  purchasable  vote,  will  vote  for 
the  system. 

Our  national  condition  is  like  a  person  sick  with 
some  malady  fatal  unless  cured  by  a  surgical  opera- 
tion. Unless  the  operation  is  performed,  the  patient 
must  die.  And  if  the  operation  is  made,  the  opera- 
tion, itself,  means  excruciating  pain  and  possible  death. 

The  law-making  power  will  have  to  be  made  a 
popular  body  in  both  branches,  the  judiciary  re- 
stricted in  jurisdiction  to  the  interpretation  of  law 
and  the  simple  trial  of  causes  brought  before  it,  the 
Executive  and  police  power  confined  to  the  enforce- 
ment of  law  and  order,  and  our  money  system 
changed  before  the  present  robber  system  can  be 
made  to  surrender  to  a  new  system  based  on  equity 
and  equal  rights.  Even  then,  the  reform  cannot  be 
made  without  causing  suffering  to  the  masses  for  a 
time.  The  question  is,  will  the  people  ever  be  willing 
to  endure  a  short  period  of  deprivation  in  order  to 
permanently  secure  their  rights?  When  they  will 
heroically  submit  to  the  destruction  of  their  present 
selfish  interests  that  they  may  free  themselves  from 
the  slavery  of  the  money  lords,  and  leave  to  their 
children  the  blessings  of  a  consummate  freedom? 

One  fact  about  the  Standard  Oil  Company  stands 
out  egregiously  and  appodictally,  and  that  is  that  it 
has  been  operated  in  violation  and  defiance  of  law; 
therefore,  every  one  connected  with  its  responsible 
management  is  a  criminal  in  the  eyes  of  the  law. 

It  has  been  given  out  that  Mr.  Rockefeller  and 
his  son  have  both  retired  from  any  business,  or  re- 

76 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

sponsible  connection  with  the  Standard  Oil  Company. 

The  latest,  is  a  bill  introduced  in  the  United  States 
Senate  by  Senator  Gallinger,  chartering  a  **Rocke- 
feller  Charitable  Foundation,"  in  which,  it  is  under- 
stood, Mr.  Rockefeller  is  going  to  place  his  millions 
for  general  charitable  purposes,  for  education,  for 
the  uplift  and  good  of  mankind.  Congress  is  to  be 
represented  in  the  directorate.  That  sounds  alright, 
and  we  have  no  warrant  to  question  Mr.  Rockefeller's 
sincerity. 

Mr.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  is  to  be  made  the  great  almo- 
ner of  his  father's  millions.  What  a  lofty  and  en- 
viable position!  Like  a  demi-god,  elevated  on  a 
throne  of  gold,  he  will  dispense  his  gifts  upon  whom 
he  wills  to  bestow  them.  The  needy,  the  destitute, 
and  the  suffering  will  turn  their  expectant,  supplicat- 
ing eyes  toward  Mr.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  and  instead 
of  addressing  their  prayers  to  Heaven,  will  obtest 
the  Rockefeller  throne.  The  Government  itself,  un- 
der his  protecting  Aegis  of  gold,  will  look  to  him  for 
help  in  times  of  panic  and  national  distress. 

The  great  almoner!  The  scheme  challenges  our 
admiration;  but  the  American  people  do  not  need 
alms;  what  they  need  is  an  opportunity  to  work,  and 
a  just  remuneration  for  their  labor.  We  do  not  de- 
sire a  nation  of  paupers,  but  a  nation  of  independent 
producers.  "That  which  makes  or  unmakes  a  nation 
is  the  quiet,  peaceful,  productive  life  of  the  people." 

It  is  neither  our  desire  nor  our  purpose  to  question 
the  personal  motives  of  Mr.  Rockefeller.  Certainly 
he  has  it  in  his  power  to  do  great  things  for  his  less 
fortunate  fellowmen,  and  we  will  grant  that  such  is 
his  intention;  but  there  is  a  possibility  that  he  might 
be  mistaken  in  his  methods,  and  in  error  as  to  the 
real  needs  of  society;  and,  since  this  is  a  matter  of 
public  concern,  we  have  a  right  to  investigate  it  and 

77 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

judge  for  ourselves  whether  the  best  interests  of  so- 
ciety are  going  to  be  conserved. 

One  purpose  of  the  Rockefeller  Foundation  is, 
avowedly,  to  aid  education.  Mr.  Rockefeller's  dona- 
tions to  education  in  the  past  have  been  made  to  col- 
leges and  teachers,  from  which  we  infer  that  the 
same  policy  will  be  continued  in  the  future, — a  policy 
that  will  benefit  but  little  the  cause  of  common  edu- 
cation among  the  masses,  because  only  the  children  of 
the  rich  and  the  moderately  well  to  do  can  afford  to 
go  to  college;  besides,  if  the  teaching  is  to  be  con- 
trolled with  a  view  to  perpetuating  the  present  eco- 
nomic system,  a  greater  obstacle  to  progress  could 
hardly  be  invented. 

It  has  been  proposed  to  pension  aged  teachers.  It 
is  more  than  probable  that  the  only  teachers  pensioned 
would  be  teachers  in  the  Rockefeller  schools  who 
taught  economics  to  suit  trusts  and  billionaires.  We 
have  not  seen  where  anything  has  been  said  about 
pensioning  aged  workingmen  who  need  it  much  more 
than  college  professors,  because  college  professors 
now  get  handsome  salaries,  and  could,  if  they  would, 
lay  up  something  against  the  forced  inactivities  of 
age;  while  it  is  practically  impossible  for  working- 
men  to  lay  by  anything  out  of  the  meager  wages 
paid  to  them.  The  workingman  can  hope  for  noth- 
ing better  than  a  charity  hospital  or  the  "Poor 
House,"  which  the  average  poor  man  dreads  next  to 
death,  because  he  knows  that  to  go  there  means  sep- 
aration from  every  family  tie  and  loving  association. 

There  is  nothing  said  about  buying  back  the  large 
tracts  of  land  wrongfully  seized  from  the  public  do- 
main by  syndicates  and  "land-grabbers,"  that  they 
might  be  opened  up  to  settlement  by  the  poor  with  a 
chance  to  purchase  them  and  build  for  themselves 
homes,  at  the  same  time  encouraging  increased  pro- 

78 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

duction,  which  Mr.  James  H.  Hill,  and  others,  say 
is  rapidly  falling  behind  the  increase  of  population. 
Agriculture  is  the  foundation  of  our  national  fabric, 
and  if  it  is  undermined,  the  structure  will  fall. 

We  believe  in  education ;  but  you  must  have  a  phy- 
sical man  before  you  can  make  him  a  moral  and  in- 
tellectual man. 

Lighten  the  burden  of  the  toiler,  Mr.  Rockefeller, 
before  you  educate  him;  for,  if  you  educate  him  first, 
you  will  either  make  him  a  criminal,  or  render  him 
more  unhappy;  because  knozdedge  zmll  gii/e  to  him  a 
painful  sense  of  his  almost  hopeless  environment. 

The  Caesars  amused  the  Roman  populace  with 
feasts  and  games;  the  American  people,  by  their 
money  kings,  are  to  be  given  colleges,  libraries,  and 
soup  houses.    Will  they  be  satisfied  with  that? 

Money_  given  for  medical  and  scientific  research, 
for  hospitals,  for  the  relief  of  physical  suffering,  is  in 
the  highest  degree  commendable ;  b«t  the  other  ills 
that  make  these  things  necessary  are  what  we  want 
to  get  at  first.  The  largest  per  cent,  of  disease  and 
suffering  among  the  poor  is  due  to  overwork,  to  in- 
nutrition on  account  of  the  inferior  quality  and  in- 
sufficient quantity  of  food,  and  to  clothing  inadequate 
to  allow  proper  cleanliness  or  to  protect  them  from 
the  inclemencies  of  the  seasons. 

In  our  own  personal  knowledg-e,  we  know  of  a 
number  of  grand  old  American  families,  coming  down 
from  the  sturdy  yeomanry  of  the  early  days  of  the 
Republic,  who  are  now  as  extinct  as  the  palezoic 
age.  They  lost  their  freeholds,  could  not  stand  the 
pressure,  and  succumbed.  We  know  of  other  fam- 
ilies on  the  verge  of  extinction,  whose  names,  in  one 
or  two  more  generations,  will  be  only  a  memory.  It 
is  a  strange  fact,  but  these  families  belong  mostly  to 
the  educated  class  of  the  poor.    This  partly  explains 

79 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  race  suicide.  Rather  than  bring  children  into  the 
world  to  a  heritage  of  poverty,  toil,  and  misery,  they 
have  none. 

It  has  been  given  out  that  in  case  of  a  financial 
panic,  as  in  1907,  Mr.  Rockefeller  would  again  come 
to  the  relief  of  the  Government  by  purchasing  bonds, 
and  other  securities,  so  as  to  restore  credit  and  con- 
fidence. It  is  a  grand  thing  to  pose  as  the  savior  of 
one's  country.  True,  it  is  rather  humiliating  to  have 
one  citizen  who  is  stronger  than  the  Government ;  but 
when  that  citizen  generously  proposes  to  look  after 
the  tottering  Government  and  help  it  over  the  hard 
places,  he  should  be  accorded  the  praises  which  are 
due. 

In  times  of  financial  panic,  when  the  prices  of  se- 
curities drop  to  the  bottom,  Mr.  Rockefeller  will  be 
expected  to  buy  them  up.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller buys  any  kind  of  an  old  security  it  immediate- 
ly becomes  good,  advances  in  price  at  once,  and  Mr. 
Rockefeller  reaps  the  profit ;  he  could  thus  make  mil- 
lions in  a  day,  and  still  pose  as  the  savior  of  his 
country. 

As  we  understand  it,  the  Rockefeller  Charitable 
Corporation,  under  the  proposed  charter,  will  still 
leave  Mr.  Rockefeller  in  possession  of  his  milHons, 
and  in  practical  control  to  spend  them  as  he  pleases; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  it  will  exempt  them  from  an 
Income,  or  Inheritance  Tax.  Mr.  Rockefeller  is  wise 
enough  to  see  what  is  coming  in  the  future,  and  his 
purpose  is  to  make  provision  against  it  in  good  time. 
Senator  Root,  and  other  leading  men  of  the  nation 
are  advocating  an  Income  Tax,  which  will  probably 
come  before  the  better  thing  of  Public  Ownership. 
An  Income  Tax,  Inheritance  Tax,  National  Super- 
vision by  legal  methods,  and  other  palliatives  and  ex- 

80 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

pedients  will  be  first  tried  before  Public  Ownership 
of  Public  Utilities — the  only  perfect  solution. 

The  Rockefeller  Foundation,  under  the  proposed 
charter,  is  to  be  a  kind  of  governmental  abditory  for 
the  safe-keeping  of  Mr.  Rockefeller's  millions,  of 
which  the  United  States  Senate  will  be  the  warden, 
and  the  Judiciary  the  fortification. 


But,  going  back  to  the  point  where  we  began  this 
digression,  the  case  against  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany which  was  first  tried  in  the  court  of  Judge  Lan- 
dis  where  the  company  was  convicted  and  fined,  then 
appealed  to  the  court  of  Judge  Grosscup  where  the 
decision  of  the  lower  court  was  reversed,  there  is  no 
question  in  our  mind  as  to  the  guilt  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Company;  but  the  case  was  reversed  and  re- 
manded on  purely  trumped  up  technical  grounds. 

The  decision  of  Judge  Grosscup  is  very  interest- 
ing in  its  admirable  sophistry.  He  charged  that  Judge 
Landis  of  the  District  Court  erred  in  that  he  im- 
posed a  fine  on  the  Standard  Oil  Company  of  Indi- 
ana, when  the  principal  stockholders  are  members 
of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  of  New  Jersey,  who, 
he  claimed,  were  not  before  the  court;  when  every 
one  knows  it  is  one  and  the  same  company,  in  fact. 
If  the  trial  had  been  brought  against  the  New  Jersey 
branch  instead  of  against  the  Indiana  branch,  the 
very  same  argument  could  have  been  fallaciously  used 
with  equal  reason.  If  Judge  Grosscup's  position  in 
this  should  be  maintained,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
impose  a  fine  on  the  Standard  Oil  Company  in  any 
State. 

The  corporations  bought  the  State  of  New  Jer- 
sey several  years  ago,  and  absolutely  own  and  con- 
trol it;  for  which  reason  they  have  established  there 
the  main  heads  of  their  organizations.    Under  the  di- 

8i 


THE  DRAGON'S   TEETH 

rection  of  the  shrewdest  lawyers  that  their  money  has 
been  able  to  employ,  they  have  established  branch 
organizations  in  the  other  States,  with  slightly  dif- 
ferent titles,  but  all  completely  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  parent  organizations  in  New  Jersey;  the 
object  being  to  evade  the  laws  enacted  for  the  control 
of  corporations,  and  to  make  it  as  difficult  as  legal 
cunning  can  devise  to  successfully  prosecute  them 
in  the  courts. 

Judge  Grosscup  further  charges  that  Judge  Lan- 
dis,  in  his  decision,  "was  influenced  by  popular  clam- 
or, and  acted  above  the  law."  It  is  not  Juds^e  Landis 
who  is  above  the  law — in  this  case,  it  is  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company.  And  what  about  Judge  Gross- 
cup's  reference  to  popular  clamor  as  if  it  was  a 
crime?  If  he  were  a  candidate  for  some  political  of- 
fice, he  would,  like  the  rest  of  them,  acclaim  that 
"The  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God";  but 
as  a  Judge,  the  voice  of  the  people  is  to  be  con- 
demned. 

The  position  of  Judge  Grosscup  is  that  it  is  crim- 
inal for  a  United  States  Judge  to  pay  any  heed  to  the 
demands  of  the  people. 

His  further  charge  that  the  defendent  Oil  Com- 
pany was  refused  the  privilege  to  offer  important  tes- 
timony, is  clearly  disproved  by  the  records  of  the 
lower  court.  But  there  is  no  use  to  discuss  it  fur- 
ther; for  the  decision  was  only  what  was  to  be  ex- 
pected. There  is  one  startling  fact  brought  out,  how- 
ever, which  was  not  expected;  and  that  is,  that  the 
Government  cannot  appeal  from  the  decision  to  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  as  there  is  no  legal 
provision  permitting  it  to  do  so!  The  following  is 
the  comment  of  the  United  States  Attorney  General, 
Charles  J.  Bonaparte: 

"As  yet  I  am  not  informed  as  to  the  ground  of  the 
82 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

decision,  and  until  I  am,  I  can  have  little  to  say  about 
it.  There  is  one  feature  of  the  case,  however,  to 
which  public  attention  can  be,  and  should  be,  called 
at  once.  A  suit  of  such  importance  certainly  ought 
to  be  submitted  for  final  decision  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States ;  but  since  the  Court  of 
Appeals  has  decided,  that  cannot  now  be  done.  There 
is  no  good  reason  of  justice  or  public  policy  why 
there  should  not  be  an  appeal  from  this  decision  by 
the  United  States.  But  the  statutes  permit  none,  al- 
though the  Congress  has  been  repeatedly  urged  by 
successive  Attorneys  General  to  enact  a  more  com- 
prehensive law  permitting  appeals  by  the  Govern- 
ment in  criminal  cases.  As  I  said  in  my  last  annual 
report,  I  think  this  gives  an  unreasonable  and  unfair 
advantage  to  the  wealthy  defendants  in  such  cases, 
and  I  hope  the  defect  in  the  law  will  he  remedied  at 
the  next  session  of  Congress." 

My  countrymen,  what  do  you  think  of  that?  The 
Government  powerless  to  appeal  a  criminal  case  to 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court! 

We  have  been  thinking  all  this  time  that  that  was 
what  the  Supreme  Court  was  for;  but  it  appears  that 
the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  is  a  kind  of  a  side- 
pocket  ;  and  if  a  case  gets  into  it,  there  is  no  chance 
for  appeal. 

President  Roosevelt  says,  "The  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany must  be  punished,  and  the  prosecution  will  con- 
tinue to  be  pressed."  But  what  is  the  use?  The 
Government  has  already  spent  over  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  this  particular  case;  and  if  it 
spends  a  hundred  thousand  more,  the  result  will  still 
be  failure. 

It  develops  that  the  Government  may,  by  making 
application  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  a  writ  of  certiorari,  get  a  hearing  before 

83 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

that  august  and  mighty  tribunal ;  but  it  is  entirely  op- 
tional with  the  Supreme  Court  whether  it  issues  the 
writ  or  not; — it  is  probable  that  it  will  not; — for 
the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals,  which  is  an  unconstitu- 
tional innovation  in  our  National  Jurisprudence,  was 
especially  created  for  this  very  purpose,  to  stop  such 
cases  before  they  reach  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  and  thereby  obviate  the  necessity  for  it  to  go 
on  record  in  decisions  affecting  the  criminal  rich.  It 
realizes  the  importance  of  preserving  its  dignity,  and 
of  making  a  show  of  lofty  and  impartial  justice. 

Why  is  it  that  the  people  cannot  see  the  imperative 
need  that  the  Congress  should  at  once  by  statute 
clearly  define  the  appellate  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States  Courts,  and  by  constitutional  amendment,  di- 
vest them  of  the  arrogated  right  to  pass  upon  the  con- 
stitutionality of  Congressional  Acts?  The  chief  rea- 
son is  that  every  agency  which  wealth  can  command 
is  leagued  against  them.  Newspapers,  one  of  the 
principal  factors  in  moulding  public  opinion  and  sen- 
timent, abound  with  misrepresentations  and  sophis- 
tical arguments,  which  mislead  the  public  mind ;  while 
ostensibly  championing  the  cause  of  the  people,  they 
are  in  reality  serving  the  corporations. 

One  editorial  which  we  read,  speaking  of  the 
Standard  Oil  Company  trial,  reads : 

"The  decision  will  help  business,  as  it  will  restore  confidence  to 
capital,  which  will^  cause  the  re-employment  of  labor,  and  start  up 
many  industries  which  have  been  idle." 

That  this  will  be  temporarily  true,  will  appear  a  con- 
firmation of  the  editorial  statement.  Just  as  corpora- 
tions control  the  money,  and  the  commercial  and 
manufacturing  industries  of  the  country,  and  can 
bring  about  hard  times  when  it  suits  them  to  do  so; 
Hkewise,  for  the  very  same  reasons,  they  can  employ 
labor,  start  up  industries,  and  bring  on  the  so-called 

84 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

good  times.  In  the  panic  of  1907,  the  mere  insist- 
ence on  civic  and  industrial  righteousness  was  suf- 
ficient to  induce  them  to  shut  down  on  labor,  and 
stop  enough  of  the  industries  of  the  country  to  par- 
tially paralyze  business.  The  fact  is,  the  corporations 
have  got  this  country  by  the  throat;  and  if  they  are 
in  the  least  interfered  with,  they  begin  to  squeeze; 
tightening  their  grip  till  the  people  cry  "Enough!'* 
Another  editorial  read : 

*'There  has  been  a  wave  of  hysteria  sweeping  over  the  country 
caused  by  blatant  demagogues  attacking  capitalistic  interests;  but 
now  that  the  people  see  that  it  only  brought  on  hard  times,  causing 
derangement  of  the  business  interests  of  the  country,  the  decision  of 
the  Court  in  the  Standard  Oil  Company  case  is  reassuring;  as  it  will 
cause  the  people  to  return  to  sanity  in  their  attitude  toward  capital, 
and  the   demagogue   will   have  to   take  a  back   seat." 

Now,  such  talk  as  this  sounds  so  plausible,  and  ap- 
pears so  fully  corroborated  by  facts  and  experience, 
that  it  is  not  strange  if  the  people  are  led  to  believe  it. 
Doubtless  many  of  the  newspapers  are  ignorantly  hon- 
est in  such  assertions ;  others  are  simply  influenced  by 
sycophantic  servility  to  wealth;  while  still  others  are 
owned  and  controlled  by  the  corporations  outright. 

In  denouncing  as  demagogues  and  agitators  those 
who  have  been  contending  for  civic  and  industrial 
righteousness,  and  for  obedience  to  law  by  the  rich 
as  well  as  the  poor,  is  to  denounce  such  men  as  Pres- 
ident Roosevelt,  Senator  Lafollette,  W.  J.  Bryan,  and 
others,  who  represent  the  best  thought  and  conscience 
of  the  Nation;  yet  many  believe  that  the  only  way 
to  have  business  prosperity  is  to  let  the  corporations 
alone,  and  give,  what  they  term  encouragement  to 
the  investment  of  capital; — and,  indeed,  they  are 
right  about  it,  if  the  present  system  is  going  to  be 
allowed  to  continue. 

If  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  is  not  going 
to  restore  complete  autonomy  to  the  people  by  the 

85 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

radical  measures  necessary  to  destroy  plutocratic 
power,  such  as  revision  of  the  Constitution  by  amend- 
ments denying  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
the  right  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of  Acts 
of  Congress,  confining  the  jurisdiction  of  the  courts 
within  constitutional  limits,  and  demanding  public 
ownership  and  control  of  public  utiHties, — measures 
that  would  go  down  to  the  roots  of  the  evils  and 
uproot  them ; — if  the  corporations  are  still  to  have  the 
money  of  the  country,  and  are  to  be  allowed  to  control 
its  industries  according  to  their  own  sweet  pleasure, 
— ^why  then  the  corporation  Press  is  right ;  and  it 
would  be  better  for  this  generation  to  allow  the  pres- 
ent robber  system  to  continue  with  the  least  disturb- 
ance; but  it  needs  not  a  prophet  to  foretell  that  it 
means  impoverishment,  vassallage,  and  ruin  to  the 
generations  soon  to  follow.  It  is  like  where  a  serious 
surgical  operation  is  necessary  to  save  a  person's  Hfe ; 
a  thorough  surgical  operation  is  needed  to  save  the 
life  of  our  Republic.  The  cancerous,  parasitical 
growths  on  the  body  politic  must  be  cut  out,  the  blood- 
sucking tentacles  of  corporations  must  be  amputated, 
and  the  places  where  they  grew  cauterized  to  prevent 
their  reappearance. 

We  will  quote  just  one  other  editorial  which  we 
read,  which  is  as  follows: 

"The  decision  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  in 
the  Standard  Oil  Company  case  evidences  the  fact  that  the  courts 
are   still  the  bulwark  of  our   liberties." 

According  to  this  editorial,  President  Roosevelt, 
Senator  La  Follette,  and  others,  whom  the  people  have 
looked  up  to  as  champions  of  popular  rights,  able, 
honest,  and  patriotic,  have  been  making  a  bold,  pirati- 
cal attack  on  their  liberties,  while  pretending  to  be  their 
friends ;  and  all  that  saved  them  was  that  the  onslaught 
was  repulsed  by  the  invincible  bulwark  of  the  courts. 

86 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Does  any  one  believe  this  ?  Of  whose  liberties  has  the 
Court  been  the  bulwark  in  the  Standard  Oil  case  ?  Cer- 
tainly not  of  the  thousands  of  honest  competitors 
whom  the  Standard  Oil  Company  forced  out  of  busi- 
ness and  ruined ;  certainly  not  of  the  people,  who  are 
made  to  obey  the  law  while  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany, and  other  large  corporations,  are  permitted  to 
override  the  law,  and  pile  up  dishonest  millions  at  the 
expense  of  their  impoverishment ;  nay,  the  courts  are 
the  bulwark  of  the  corporations,  entrenching  them  in 
impregnable  power. 

The  United  States  Congress  is,  or  should  be,  the 
bulwark  of  the  people's  liberties;  and  if  they  do  not 
exercise  their  sovereignty  through  the  Congress  in 
defense  of  their  common  rights,  they  will  soon  have 
few  liberties  to  defend. 

The  fine  sought  to  be  imposed  on  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  by  Judge  Landis'  court,  considered  simply 
as  a  punishment,  may  be  excessive;  but  the  reader 
already  knows  what  we  think  about  that.  The  Gov- 
ernment should  take  possession  of  the  whole  business. 
You  may  call  it  confiscation,  but  we  term  it  returning 
to  the  Government  for  the  Common  Good  what  in 
justice  belongs  to  the  people,  and  of  which  they  have 
wrongfully  been  deprived. 

The  United  States  Congress  was  intended  to  be, 
and  if  we  have  a  democratic  government  instead  of 
a  plutocracy,  it  must  be,  the  Supreme  Power  in  the 
Republic.  The  Congress  can  impeach  the  President, 
or  any  United  States  Judge; — it  could  impeach  the 
whole  Supreme  Court;  and  that  might  be  one  of  the 
things  needed. 

The  Courts  cannot  be  corrected  and  shorn  of  their 
arrogated  powers  till  the  rightful  authority  of  the 
Congress  is  re-established  and  reasserted.  Neither 
can  be  accomplished  till  the  Congress  is  made  a  truly 

87 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

representative  body  in  both  branches ;  and  in  order  to 
achieve  this,  the  people  will  have  to  control  the  pri- 
mary elections,  and  nominate  for  office  only  men  who 
favor  an  amendment  to  the  Federal  Constitution  re- 
quiring the  election  of  United  States  senators  by 
direct  popular  vote; — particularly  should  this  be  done 
in  nominations  for  the  State  legislatures — demanding 
of  them  that  they  elect  to  the  United  States  Senate 
only  men  who  favor  the  amendment.  When  this  is 
secured,  then  the  people  can  successfully  demand  the 
other  constitutional  amendment  denying  to  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  the  right  to  pass  upon  the  con- 
stitutionality of  Acts  of  Congress.  When  this  last  im- 
portant and  necessary  reform  is  secured,  if  the  Con- 
gress will  impeach  a  few  United  States  Judges  for 
unjustly  interpreting  and  applying  the  law,  the  Courts 
may  be  purified  from  the  influence  and  corruption  of 
corporate  and  monetary  dominancy,  and  justice  and 
equality  before  the  law  become  an  assured  reality. 

Administered  by  just,  impartial  minds, 
Exempt  from  fear  or  favor,  or  designs 
To  Justice  alien.  Law  would  have  the  sway 
That  comes  from  the  willingness  to  obey; 
The  weak  would  be  defended,  and  the  strong 
Restrained ;  the  Right  would  triumph  have,  the  Wrong 
Would  never  go  unpunished,  and  the  great 
Stand  equal  with  the  humblest  in  the  State; 
The  ermine  of  the  judge  would  have  no  stain. 
And  Courts  their  rightful  honor  would  regain. 


88 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ELECTION  OF  UNITED  STATES  SENATORS  BY  POPULAR 
VOTE 

In  view  of  the  general  unanimity  of  concurrent  opin- 
ion among  the  masses  on  this  subject,  discoursive  rea- 
sonings in  its  advocacy  would  be  unnecessary  were  it 
not  that  there  appears  to  be  a  faihire  to  fully  appre- 
ciate its   great  significance  and  importance. 

There  is  no  question  but  what  a  constitutional  ma- 
jority of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  are  in  favor 
of  electing  United  States  Senators  by  popular  vote,  and 
have  been  for  years  past.  This  being  true,  why  is  it 
that  this  reform  has  not  been  made?  What  party, 
what  influences,  and  who  are  the  individuals  thwarting 
the  will  of  the  people  in  this  matter,  and  what  are  their 
reasons  for  doing  so? 

Our  Government  is  supposed  to  be  a  democratic  gov- 
ernment; that  is,  a  government  by  the  people;  who 
rule,  if  at  all,  through  the  United  States  Congress. 
We  have  a  democratic  government  only  so  long  as  the 
Congress  is  a  representative  body  with  power  to  make 
laws  demanded  by  the  people  and  to  enforce  their  ac- 
ceptance. Democracy,  and  unrestrained  individual- 
ism, are  antagonistic  and  incompatible.  The  two  can- 
not exist  together.  Wherever  individualism  is  unre- 
strained, the  dominancy  of  powerful  class-interests  is 
the  logical  result,  with  their  consequent  aggression 
upon  common  rights.  A  strong,  centralized  govern- 
mental power  is  alone  able  to  protect  a  democracy  and 
prevent  the  natural  tendency  to  plutocratic  ascendancy. 

89 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

This  statement  appears  paradoxical,  but  a  little  study 
will  convince  anyone  of  its  truth.  If  the  Congress 
were  made  a  truly  representative  body,  then  the  more 
comprehensive  its  powers  the  more  secure  would  be 
the  people's  liberties,  and  the  more  complete  would 
be  their   rule. 

While  a  large  majority  of  the  people  have  long  fav- 
ored the  election  of  United  States  Senators  by  popular 
vote,  they  have,  as  yet,  been  unable  to  effect  that  re- 
form. The  plutocratic  opposition  to  them  is  thorough- 
ly organized  and  concealed  behind  carefully  construc- 
ted fortifications,  while  the  people  fail  for  lack  of  lead- 
ership and  effective  organization ;  each  one,  failing  to 
see  that  he  can  accomplish  anything  independently  by 
himself,  tamely  submits  to  conditions  which  appear  in- 
evitable, and  waits  for  somebody  else  to  do  what,  with 
more  courage,  he  might  do  himself.  There  seems  to 
be  a  feeling,  or  sentiment,  among  the  people,  that 
political  and  social  evils  are  somehow  providentially 
permitted;  and  they  are  disposed  to  rely  on  Provi- 
dence to  correct  them;  forgetting  that  "Providence 
helps  those  who  first  help  themselves."  There  is, 
among  the  masses,  a  great  lack  of  understanding  and 
appreciation  of  political  and  social  conditions.  The 
average  citizen  fails  to  apprehend  the  full  rights  of 
his  citizenship,  and  knows  less  of  how  those  rights  are 
to  be  preserved,  defended,  and  maintained.  Instead 
of  studying  these  questions  for  himself  and  getting 
down  to  the  philosophical  reason  of  things,  in  the 
periodical  political  contests,  he  allows  his  judgment 
and  his  vote  to  be  swayed  either  by  partisan  bias,  the 
intimidation  or  coercion  by  plutocratic  agencies  who 
appeal  to  his  cupidity  or  his  fear  of  hunger  and  want, 
by  his  proximate  selfish  interests,  or  by  the  pleasing 
sophistries  of  office-seeking  demagogues.  Many,  per- 
haps the  majority,  have  no  reason  for  their  party 

90 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

alignments  other  than  that  their  fathers  were  so-and- 
so.  You  hear  some  say,  "I  was  born  a  democrat,'* 
or  "I  was  born  a  repubHcan,"  which,  when  you  come 
to  think  about  it,  is  devoid  of  reason  or  sense.  A 
man  may  be  born  a  fool,  but  he  cannot  be  born  with 
a  knowledge  of  government,  or  of  ethical  social  phil- 
osophy. Other  pre-election  influences  are  employed, 
called,  "Applying  the  party  whip."  If  a  man  changes 
his  political  affiliations,  he  is  contemptuously  termed 
a  "turncoat,"  and  the  fear  of  a  negative  kind  of  ostra- 
cism holds  many  to  their  party  alignments  in  oppo- 
sition to  their  honest  convictions  and  better  judg- 
ments. 

The  corporations,  having  attained  a  position  of 
wealth  and  power  that  enables  them  to  defy  the 
laws  of  Government,  to  dominate  legislation,  to  con- 
trol the  industries  and  finances,  and  therefore  labor 
and  wages,  influence  many  voters  by  flatteries,  sub- 
sidies, and  the  tempting  offers  of  position  and  au- 
thority ;  the  great  business  interests  of  the  country  are 
coerced  into  their  support  by  the  threat  of  financial 
and  business  loss ;  and  the  mass  of  wage-earners  are 
brought  into  line  by  the  fear  of  enforced  idleness  and 
consequent   want. 

As  we  have  before  remarked,  these  threats  of  the 
corporations  are  not  idly  made.  It  is  only  too  true  that 
they  have  the  power  to  execute  every  one  of  them. 
Therefore,  the  average  business  man  or  wage-earner, 
finding  it  to  his  proximate  advantage  to  submit  to  the 
extortions  of  the  capitalistic  interests,  votes  as  they 
tell  him,  regardless  of  the  future. 

The  office-seeking  demagogues,  like  skilled  musi- 
cians, play  upon  all  these  strings  to  excite  the  preju- 
dices and  stir  the  passions  of  the  populace. 

A  better  education  of  the  people  on  political  and 
economic  subjects,  enabling  them  to  proceed  intelli- 

91 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

gently  in  the  re-establishment  of  a  pure  democracy  by 
shunning  the  wiles  of  the  demagogue  and  spurning 
the  threats  of  corporate  power,  is  the  only  way  to 
destroy  the  evils  which  are  undermining  the  very 
foundations  of  our  Government;  but  how  is  this  to 
be  done?  The  Press  would  present  the  cheapest 
and  most  practical  means;  but  the  Press,  influenced 
by  subsidies  and  favors  has,  to  a  large  degree,  fallen 
victim  to  the  general  corruption,  and  can  no  longer 
be  depended  on  to  champion  the  vital  interests  of 
democratic  government.  Books  are  the  most  reliable 
medium  for  the  dissemination  of  correct  knowledge; 
but  unfortunately,  the  best  of  them  are  beyond  the 
ability   of  the  masses  to  purchase. 

A  knowledge  of  history  is  the  best  aid  to  a  correct 
understanding  of  present  political  and  social  condi- 
tions; particularly  do  we  recommend  a  study  of 
Roman  history.  Every  intelligent  citizen  of  the 
United  States  should  carefully  read  and  study  the  his- 
tory of  the  Roman  Republic,  between  which  and  our 
Republic  there  are  so  many  points  of  similarity. 

The  idea  of  a  Senate  first  originated  in  Rome  un- 
der the  rule  of  the  kings  about  800  B.C.,  or  about 
three  centuries  before  the  Roman  Republic  was  estab- 
Hshed. 

The  purpose  in  view  for  the  creation  of  many 
things  can  best  be  learned  by  a  study  of  the  influ- 
ences which  induced  their  origin ;  therefore  a  knowl- 
edge of  social  conditions  in  Rome  at  the  time  the 
Senate  was  created  is  essential  to  an  understanding  of 
the  forces  which  evolved  it,  and  which  it  was  in- 
tended to  serve. 

The  first  thing  to  be  observed  is,  that  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Roman  Government  under  the  rule 
of  the  kings,  and  for  a  very  long  time  afterward, 
the  aristocracy  alone  possessed  any  civil  rights;  the 

92 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

next  is  the  reluctance  with  which  they  surrendered 
any  of  those  rights,  or  shared  them  with  others,  and 
the  means  which  they  adopted  to  retain  their  hold 
upon  the  wealth  of  the  country  and  the  control  of 
the  Government;  and  we  shall  see  that,  from  the 
first  to  the  last,  they  called  to  their  assistance  the 
mighty   power   of  the   Senate. 

In  ancient  Rome,  the  householders  or  home-owners 
were  called  patricians.  They  possessed  all  political, 
i.  e..  Burgess  rights.  All  others  were  either  cli- 
ents, dependents,  or  slaves,  who  did  not  count  for 
anything  in  the  Government.  The  phrase,  "The  peo- 
ple," did  not  then  mean  what  it  does  now.  In  fact, 
the  meaning  has  been  completely  reversed.  The  pa- 
trician, or  aristocratic  class,  called  themselves  the 
people;  all  others  were  nothing  but  plebs,  or  folk, 
who,  at  the  first  owned  no  property,  and  were  given 
no  political  rights  whatever.  This  condition  obtained 
without  interruption  during  the  reigns  of  the  kings. 

The  king  was  chosen  from  among  the  patricians, 
by  them,  and  held  his  position  for  life.  He  wielded 
almost  absolute  power  over  his  subjects.  He  con- 
sulted the  national  gods;  he  kept  the  keys  to  the 
public  treasury;  the  power  of  life  and  death  was  in 
his  hands  as  he  was  the  supreme  judge  in  all  civil 
and  criminal  suits;  he  exalted  whom  he  would,  and 
degraded  those  who  incurred  his  displeasure. 

The  Kings  early  learned  how  important  it  was  to  the 
maintenance  of  their  rule  to  have  religious  sentiment 
moulded  to  agree  with  their  governmental  policies, 
and  therefore  religion  was  made  subordinate  to  the 
State  almost  from  the  first.  Thus  the  pagan  priest- 
hood was  made  the  bulwark  of  kingly  authority,  and 
the  chief  support  of  the  superior  rights  and  privileges 
of  the  patricians ;  while  at  the  same  time  they  kept 
the  plebs  in  a  condition  of  subordination  and  sub- 

93 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

serviency  by  holding  them  in  the  thralldom  of  re- 
ligions superstition;  so  when  it  happened  that  the 
privileges— (vested  rights) — of  the  patricians  were 
in  any  manner  jeopardized,  or  when  the  kings  be- 
came embarrassed  by  matters  of  religious  or  public 
law,  for  the  moral  effect  which  it  produced  in  the 
minds  of  the  commons,  as  well  as  the  actual  aug- 
mentation of  their  power,  found  it  expedient  to  have 
about  them  a  body  of  sacred  experts. 

In  addition  to  the  priesthood,  they  chose  from 
among  the  most  powerful  and  influential  of  the  pa- 
tricians a  council  of  elders,  who  held  their  ofifice  for 
life.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Roman  Senate, 
from  which,  in  later  times,  was  derived  the  House  of 
Lords  in  England,  and  in  America,  the  Senate  of 
the  United   States. 

The  Roman  Senate,  at  the  first,  exercised  little 
more  than  a  moral  influence  in  the  Government;  but 
as  time  went  by,  and  the  magnitude  and  importance 
of  wars  increased,  from  the  fact  that  it  represented 
the  patrician  class  who  alone  were  permitted  to  bear 
arms  or  go  to  war,  the  Senate  gradually  achieved  an 
accession  of  power  and  a  position  of  commanding 
influence  in  the  Government. 

As  the  powers  of  the  Senate  increased,  the  author- 
ity of  the  king  decreased;  and  when  at  last  it  at- 
tained an  ascendancy  of  influence,  the  priesthood 
swerved  in  their  allegiance  from  the  King  to  the 
Senate  as  the  more  powerful  authority. 

The  patrician  aristocracy,  as  headed  by  the  Senate 
and  supported  by  the  priesthood,  having  become  more 
powerful  than  the  individual  King,  in  the  reign  of 
"Tarquin  the  Proud,"  or  about  509  B.C.,  abolished 
the  Roman-Tuscan  Dynasty,  and  established  a  so- 
called  Republic,  governed  by  Consuls  instead  of 
Kings. 

94 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

It  is  only  fair  to  record  that  the  Roman  Republic, 
as  at  first  established  (if  you  leave  out  of  considera- 
tion the  plebs  who  had  no  voice  in  the  Government), 
was  a  nearly  ideal  democracy  as  to  the  patricians,  or 
ruling  class;  for  they  enjoyed  perfect  equality  in 
the  franchise  and  in  political  and  social  rights;  and 
the  Senate,  from  the  first  to  the  last  preponderately  a 
patrician  body,   zealously  guarded   those   rights. 

The  administrative  power  of  the  Consuls  was  not 
less  than  that  of  the  Kings  had  been ;  but  as  they 
were  only  elected  for  one  year,  they  had  but  a  lim- 
ited time  in  which  to  abuse  that  power, — even  if  they 
were  so  disposed.  In  times  of  national  peace,  the 
Consuls  exercised  only  administrative  functions ;  but 
in  times  of  war  they  practically  assumed  absolute 
authority.  In  times  of  national  peace,  the  Senate 
was  the  law-making  body,  and  therefore  exercised  a 
controlling  influence. 

The  magistrates,  or  judges,  who  had  been  only 
honorary  counselors  to  the  Kings,  in  the  Republic, 
under  the  rule  of  the  Consuls  and  the  Senate,  became 
firmly  established  in  the  prerogative  to  interpret  and 
execute  the  law.  The  magistracy,  or  judiciary,  as  we 
would  term  it,  was  from  the  first  an  aristocratic  body, 
and  so  remained.  The  Senate  was  careful  to  preserve 
it  an  aristocratic  body  in  the  interest  of  the  privileged, 
patrician  class. 

Rome  was  not  the  only  nation  in  which  the  aristoc- 
racy controlled  the  courts;  they  have  controlled  the 
courts  in  every  government;  they  are  controlling  the 
courts  to  a  large  degree  in  the  United  States  to- 
day. If  the  Congress  were  in  both  branches  a  popu- 
lar body,  the  people  would  control  the  courts  through 
the  Congress ;  but  the  United  States  Senate,  as  con- 
stituted, is  not  a  popular  body.  The  Lower  House  of 
the  Congress  has  the  constitutional  power  to  impeach 

95 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

any  United  States  judge,  or  federal  officer;  but  the 
United  States  Senate  is  by  the  Constitution  made  the 
tribunal  before  which  every  impeachment  must  be 
tried;  therefore  the  Senate,  composed  of  milHon- 
aires,  and  partners  in  privileged  interests,  stands  be- 
tween the  courts  and  the  people,  ready  to  thwart  any 
attempt  to  break  down  the  barriers  that  protect  the 
privileged  classes. 

The  early  Roman  requirement  that  the  aristocracy 
had  to  do  all  the  fighting  in  the  wars,  was  more 
just,  in  that  sense,  than  has  been  practiced  by  any 
other  nation.  Wars  in  other  nations  have  been  mostly 
"Rich  men's  quarrels  and  poor  men's  fights."  The 
peasantry  and  yeomanry  have  sacrificed  their  lives  on 
gory  battlefields,  drenched  the  earth  with  their  blood, 
while  the  rich  stood  back  at  a  safe  distance, — ready 
though,  like  vultures,  to  follow  after  and  seize  upon 
the  spoils  of  war. 

As  Rome  increased  her  dominions,  and  came  in 
conflict  with  more  powerful  tribes  and  nations,  the 
patrician  class  could  no  longer  do  all  the  fighting; 
it  therefore  became  imperative  on  the  Senate  to  add 
to  the  military  strength  by  drafts  from  the  plebs. 
With  the  new  military  duties  imposed  on  the  plebs, 
the  Senate  was  reluctantly  forced  to  give  them  a 
small  degree  of  civil  rights  as  an  incentive  to  allegiance 
and  loyalty,  by  which  a  number  of  plebs  came  into 
the  possession  of  property,  and  certain  Burgess  rights ; 
and  as  their  number  increased,  they  acquired  an  ever 
increasing  influence  in  the  Government. 

The  reader  will  take  notice  that  it  was  the  wealth 
of  certain  plebs  that  gave  them  political  influence, 
and  that  the  long  struggle  between  the  patricians  and 
the  plebs,  which  had  its  beginning  under  the  Kings 
and  continued  through  the  centuries  of  the  Republic 
to  its  final  dissolution,  was  mainly  a  struggle  between 

96 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  aristocracy  of  blood  on  the  part  of  the  patricians, 
and  the  aristocracy  of  wealth  on  the  part  of  the  rich 
plebs.  The  masses  were  little  better  off  under  one 
than  the  other ;  for,  actuated  by  the  basest  cupidity,  the 
rich  plebs,  in  their  inordinate  desire  for  still  greater 
wealth  and  increase  of  political  power,  quickly  forgot 
the  interests  of  the  class  from  which  they  sprung. 
The  rich  plebs  had  their  slaves  and  clients  the  same 
as  the  rich  patricians,  and  they  finally  became  one 
with  the  patricians  in  everything  except  the  aris- 
tocracy of  blood ;  and  eventually  that  was  broken  down 
by  the  annullment  of  the  long  denied  right  of  inter- 
marriage. It  is  w^orth  while  to  note  that  in  all  these 
changes,  the  Roman  Senate  remained  substantially 
patrician,  and  an  insurmountable  barrier  to  the  hopes 
and  interests  of  the  poorer  commons,  who  were  com- 
pelled to  bear  the  heavier  burdens  of  taxation  and 
war.  In  the  elections,  the  clients  of  the  patricians  and 
the  rich  plebs,  while  they  nominally  belonged  to  the 
commons,  they  always  voted  as  their  masters  dictated. 

We  have  no  aristocracy  of  blood  in  the  United 
States,  but  we  have  the  aristocracy  of  wealth  in  its 
worst  form.  Our  overlords  are  the  rich  and  power- 
ful corporations,  controlling  the  finances  and  indus- 
tries of  the  country;  and  every  one  connected  with 
them,  directly  or  indirectly,  is  a  cliental  dependent. 
These  cliental  dependents  of  the  corporations,  while 
they  are  nominally  of  the  people,  and  loudly  make  such 
claim  themselves,  they  usually  vote  as  their  masters, 
the  corporations,  dictate.  Back  of  this  corporation 
system  is  the  United  States  Senate;  and  behind  it, 
is  the  Judiciary,  ready  to  protect  the  privileged  in- 
terests under  the  specious  plea  of  protecting  "Vested 
Rights." 

Submission  to  bondage  becomes  a  habit  of  nature 
with  the  slave,  and  the  slavish   cliental  dependency 

97 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

upon  corporations  and  corporate  wealth  becomes  deeper 
rooted  and  fixed  with  the  lapse  of  time.  The  powers 
of  resistance  are  diminished  as  the  means  of  resistance 
are  gradually  taken  away.  Let  not  the  people  fool 
themselves  by  thinking  the  much-needed  reforms  in 
our  Government  can  be  put  off  to  some  indefinite  fu- 
ture time.  If  these  reforms  are  ever  to  be  made,  now 
is  the  time  to  make  them,  before  the  independence 
and  manhood  of  the  people. are  further  weakened  by 
the  debasing  influences  which  are  now  in  operation. 
The  people  could  now,  by  a  united  effort,  secure 
these  reforms,  and  make  them  permanent  by  having 
them  incorporated  in  the  National  Constitution.  Many 
of  the  reforms  secured  by  the  Roman  commons  were 
not  lasting  because  they  failed  to  have  them  made 
a  part  of  the  "Twelve  Tables,"  which  was  their  na- 
tional constitution.  We  warn  the  people  that,  if  they 
continue  to  listen  to  the  platitudes  and  sophistries 
of  misguided  or  corrupt  politicians,  and  tlie  disguised 
advocates  of  corporate  wealth,  they  may  delay  these 
reforms  till  it  will  be  too  late.  Graft,  dishonesty,  and 
self-seeking,  are  corrupting  both  official  and  pri- 
vate life.  Poverty,  to  which  the  masses  of  the  people 
are  becoming  rapidly  reduced,  degrades  morally  as 
well  as  physically.  The  hearthstones  of  virtuous, 
contented  homes  kindle  the  fires  of  patriotism;  but 
when  the  homes  are  taken  away,  the  altar  fires  of 
Freedom  are  extinguished.  The  people  lose  not  only 
the  physical  means  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  op- 
pression, they  lose  the  moral  ability  as  well.  "Eternal 
vigilance  is  the  price  of  Liberty."  It  behooves  the 
people  to  be  constantly  vigilant,  for  "their  enemies 
never  sleep." 

Some  of  the  men  whom  the  people  of  the  United 
States  have  elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  the  Con- 
gress in  the  past,  and  to  other  positions  of  honor 

98 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

and  trust,  like  the  rich  plebs  of  Rome,  forgot  the  in- 
terests of  their  constituency  whom  they  were  chosen 
to  represent,  sold  out  to  schemes  of  corporate  greed, 
and  became  themselves  identified  with  the  interests 
of  corporate  wealth  and  the  money  power. 

It  is  perfectly  natural  for  men  to  vote  for  their  indi- 
vidual proximate  interests.  If  farmers  are  elected  to  a 
State  Legislature,  you  will  find  that  they  mostly  con- 
fine their  efforts  at  legislation  to  little  local  bills  af- 
fecting neighborhood  matters  in  the  localities  where 
they  live;  if  doctors,  they  want  a  State  License  re- 
quirement shutting  out  quacks,  and  the  legal  permis- 
sion to  charge  and  collect  certain  amounts  for  pre- 
scriptions, diagnosis,  surgical  operations,  etc.;  if  law- 
yers, they  demand  a  State  License  requirement  to  prac- 
tice law,  and  certain  fee  privileges;  if  men  interested 
in  corporations,  they  want  free  franchises,  and  exemp- 
tions from  public  interference.  Every  one  is  more  or 
less  blinded  to  the  general  public  welfare  by  his  own 
proximate,  selfish  interests,  which  are  so  close  to  his 
eyes  that  they  obscure  his  vision  to  the  larger  ques- 
tions of  public  policy  for  the  Common  Good.  The 
Senators  of  the  United  States,  and  many  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Lower  House  who  are  partners  and  stock- 
holders in  corporations,  are  blinded  to  the  public 
welfare  by  their  personal  connections  with  corpora- 
tions. No  doubt  many  of  them  beUeve  that  their  in- 
dividual corporation  and  monetary  interests  are  the 
interests  of  the  whole  country,  and  the  wrongs  in- 
flicted on  the  people  by  special  privileges  and  extor- 
tions are  forgotten  and  disregarded  in  their  dreams 
of  princely  wealth. 

Study  the  history  of  the  Roman  Republic,  and 
learn  the  lessons  applicable  to  our  own. 

The  Nazarene  taught  that  all  men  are  brothers  and 
neighbors;  but  the  ancient  heathen  religions  were  all 

99 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

religions  of  caste.  In  ancient  Rome,  the  pagan  priest- 
hood, which  had  been  held  in  subordination  by  the 
Kings,  in  the  RepubHc  soon  asserted  their  independ- 
ence by  perfecting  an  independent  organization. 
Whereas  before,  the  priests,  and  other  officers  of  the 
reHgious  body,  had  been  appointed  by  the  Kings,  they 
were  now  appointed  by  their  own  supreme  Pontiffs; 
and  the  opinions  of  the  religious  teachers  became  more 
and  more  legally  binding.  The  Roman  Senate  sup- 
ported the  assumptions  of  the  priesthood,  and  pre- 
served it,  what  it  was  from  the  first,  the  great  strong- 
hold of  the  aristocracy.  Official  preferment  in  the 
priesthood  was  exclusively  confined  to  the  aristocracy. 
Even  when  the  people  attained  their  strongest  influ- 
ence in  the  Tribunate,  and  had  acquired  an  almost 
equal  division  of  power  in  the  Senate,  the  priesthood 
remained  firmly  closed  to  the  common  people,  and  lost 
none  of  its  aristocratic  character.  Of  course  we  are 
writing  of  the  pagan  religion  of  ancient  Rome  alone, 
to  the  priesthood  of  which  only  the  patrician,  or  aris- 
tocratic class,  were  eligible.  He  who  is  not  hit  has 
no  occasion  to  howl.* 

Finally,  the  real  patricians,  or  old  burgesses,  had 
dwindled  in  number  comparatively,  until  they  had 
become  a  mere  noblesse;  but,  supported  as  they  were 
by  the  Senate  and  the  priesthood,  they  were  continually 
trying  to  rise  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  monarchy.  The 
number  of  plebian  householders  and  voters  had  in- 
creased to  such  an  extent  that  it  required  all  the  power 
of  the  Senate  and  the  superstitious  influence  of  the 
pagan  religion  to  hold  them  in  check ;  and  with  all 
that,  they  were  forced  from  time  to  time  to  yield  to 
some  of  the  demands  of  the  commons.    The  first  im- 


*One  of  the  proofs  that  Jesus  was  the  Christ  was,  "The 
poor  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them." — Matt.  11.$. 

100 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH  • 

portant  concession  made  to  the  plebs  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Lower  Assembly  to  be  elected  by  the 
plebian  body,  making  the  law-making  power  a  bi- 
carmel  body ;  but  the  Senate  reserved  the  right  to  con- 
firm or  reject  all  measures  which  the  Lower  Assembly 
might  pass.  The  permanent  establishment  of  the 
Tribunate  was  brought  about  by  threatened,  if  not 
actual,  civil  war.  The  great  revolt  of  the  plebs 
known  as  the  ''Secession  to  the  Sacred  Hill,"  about 
494  B.C.,  when  farmer  soldiers,  who  had  just  re- 
turned from  a  campaign  against  the  Volscians, 
marched  in  military  order  out  of  Rome  to  a  mount 
near  the  confluence  of  the  Anio  with  the  Tiber,  and 
threatened  to  establish  there  a  rival  city,  unless  the 
patricians  would  agree  to  let  them  have  magistrates 
of  their  own  order.  This  led  to  the  establishment  of 
the  famous  Plebian  Tribunate;  but  the  Senate,  soon 
afterward,  established  the  office  of  Praetor,  or  what  we 
would  call  a  Supreme  Judge,  nullifying,  in  fact,  the 
judicial  functions  of  the  Tribunate,  and  as  only  pa- 
tricians were  eligible  to  the  office  of  Praetor,  the 
magistracy  continued  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  the 
aristocracy,  except  that  the  plebs  were  able,  under 
the  protection  of  the  Tribunate,  to  fill  some  of  the 
judicial  offices  below  that  of  Praetor.  The  Tribunate, 
however,  gained  in  influence  with  the  passing  of 
time,  and  emerged  into  political  prominence,  secur- 
ing other  important  concessions  to  the  commons;  one 
of  which  was  reform  of  the  franchise.  The  property 
qualification  for  voting  remained,  except  with  this  dif- 
ference, the  vote  of  the  poor  burgess  was  made  to 
count  as  much  as  that  of  the  rich  plebian  or  lordly 
patrician. 

The  oppressed  commons  at  length  made  demands 
for  agrarian  laws,  and  for  relief  from  the  exorbi- 
tant interest  rates  on  money.    These  were  in  a  meas- 

lOI 


;THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ure  met  by  the  Licinian  reforms.  Also,  the  condi- 
tion of  the  commons  was  improved  from  time  to  time 
by  a  distribution  of  the  pubHc  lands.  A  portion 
of  the  lands  of  the  conquered  provinces  were  thus 
distributed  in  small  allotments,  usually  from  about 
three  to  seven  acres  to  each  person;  but  the  larger 
portion  of  all  the  public  lands  was  held  by  the  State, 
and  the  Senate  let  them  out  to  the  rich  patricians  for  a 
mere  nominal  rental.  While  the  use  of  the  public 
lands  was  almok  given  to  the  patricians,  the  Govern- 
ment continued  to  hold  the  title;  and  in  this  respect, 
the  Roman  Republic  was  more  just  than  our  own, 
which  has,  at  different  times,  surrendered  its  title  to 
large  and  valuable  tracts  of  the  public  domain  to 
companies  of  men  for  corporate  exploitation. 

One  of  the  heaviest  burdens  imposed  on  the  Roman 
commons  was  taxation.  The  immense  military  and 
official  expenses  of  the  Government  had  to  be  pro- 
vided for  by  taxation ;  and  that  heavy  burden  fell,  as  it 
always  does,  upon  the  commons,  the  producing  class. 
The  poorer  commons  borrowed  money  from  the  rich 
patricians  at  exorbitant  rates  of  interest,  and  the 
result  was  that  thousands  became  hopelessly  involved 
in  debt;  and  as  according  to  law,  the  insolvent  debtor 
belonged  to  his  creditor,  who  could  either  put  him  in 
prison  or  make  him  his  slave,  it  happened  that  thou- 
sands of  freeborn  Roman  citizens  were  either  made 
slaves,  or  they  were  cast  into  prisons  for  debt.  In 
the  struggle  which  ensued,  the  more  generous  minded 
of  the  patricians,  who  were  disposed  to  grant  relief 
and  justice  to  the  commons,  were,  for  that  reason, 
persecuted  by  their  own  class ;  some  were  assassinated, 
others  were  forced  to  leave  their  country.  The  Senate 
trumped  up  political  charges  against  them,  and  many 
were  judicially  murdered,  e.  i.,  put  to  death  in  the 
name  of  law.    One  noble  patrician  because  he  bought 

102 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

corn  and  distributed  Jt  to  the  starving  commons  in  a 
time  of  great  famine,  was  accused  by  the  Senate  of 
treasonable  intentions,  and  put  to  death.  This,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  of  his  former  eminent  services 
to  the  State.  History  reveals  that  this  same  patrician 
had  twice  saved  the  very  life  of  the  nation.  These 
things  show  to  what  extreme  measures  the  Roman 
Senate  would  resort  to  preserve  aristocratic  ascend- 
ancy. 

When  the  Licinian  Laws  were  passed  for  the  relief 
of  the  debtor  class,  the  Senate  thereafter,  for  four- 
teen consecutive  years,  found  military  excuses'  for  the 
appointment  of  Dictators ;  the  real  purpose  being  to 
head  off  the  civil  reforms  advocated  by  the  leaders  of 
the  commons,  and  to  prevent  the  operation  of  the  Li- 
cinian Laws.  Indeed,  this  was  one  of  the  tricks  of  the 
Roman  Senate;  when  they  could  not  stop  popular 
measures  any  other  way,  they  would  provoke  a  war, 
and  appoint  a  Dictator.  The  Roman  law  gave  the 
Senate  the  power  to  do  this,  as  it  also  required  that 
the  Dictator  should  be  appointed  from  the  patrician 
class.  The  Dictator  wielded  the  absolute  rule  of  the 
early  Kings,  and  during  his  term  of  office  the  civil 
government  was  subordinated  to  military  authority, 
and  popular  legislation  was  impossible.  In  numerous 
instances,  when  the  commons  too  strongly  insisted  on 
some  civil  reform,  the  Senate  deliberately  provoked 
war  with  some  other  nation  to  make  an  excuse  for 
appointing  a  Dictator.  Similar  conditions  obtained 
to  the  very  end  of  the  Republic. 

Rome  was  made  drunken  with  the  spoils  of  war. 
The  vulgar  exploitation  of  wealth  by  the  few  who 
possessed  it,  contaminated  the  habits  and  manners  of 
the  people, — just  as  is  being  done  in  our  own  coun- 
try. It  was  morally  impossible  for  the  Roman  peo- 
ple to  return  to  the  frugal  habits  and  simple  lives 

103 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

of  their  forefathers.  The  masses  were  overwhelmed 
with  debt,  which  meant  to  them  slavery  and  ruin. 
The  success  of  Tiberius  and  his  brother  Caius  Grac- 
chus in  their  attempts  to  prevent  the  social  ruin  of 
the  State  by  restricting  the  powers  of  the  Senate, 
redistributing  the  domain  lands,  reorganizing  the 
administration,  and  restoring  the  legislative  authority 
of  the  popular  assemblies,  was  only  partial  and  mo- 
mentary, and  hardly  survived  their  death.  Malver- 
sation in  office  had  become  chronic  and  universal ; 
the  moral  debauchery  of  graft,  dishonesty,  and  vile 
flattery  was  complete.  'The  old  Roman  stern  sense  of 
duty  and  honor  had  quite  disappeared.  Her  priests 
had  become  pharisees,  her  philosophers  unbelievers, 
the  husbands  careless  of  family  honor,  the  wives  prac- 
ticers  of  oriental  abominations  under  the  name  of  mys- 
teries, while  the  helpless  and  oppressed  commons 
looked  on  with  superstitious  wonder  at  the  hollow 
but  pompous  ceremonies  of  religion."  Enslavement 
for  debt  continued.  How  galling"  must  have  been 
that  slavery!  Freeborn  Roman  citizens  brought  to 
a  dungeon  or  the  lash  of  a  master ! 

Obstinacy  to  government  and  organized  forms  of 
society  is  not  natural  to  the  poor.  They  have  a  kindly 
feeling  for  those  of  high  birth  and  exalted  station; 
they  stand  in  respectful  awe  of  great  wealth;  but 
when  ground  down  too  low  by  legalized  oppression, 
the  accumulated  anger  and  hate  of  years  breaks  forth 
in  frenzied  fury  against  their  oppressors. 

About  134  B.  C,  the  Servile,  or  Slave  War,  broke 
out  in  the  last  years  of  the  Roman  Republic  in  Sicily, 
where  the  conditions  were  the  least  tolerable.  What 
aggravated  the  wretched  lot  of  many  was  the  fact 
they  had  been  free  men,  and  retained  a  knowledge 
of  better  things.  The  sudden  and  barbaric  fury  of 
the  revolt  for  a  time  rendered  all  opposition  impos- 

104 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

sible.  The  slaves  overran  the  whole  island  like  de- 
moniacs let  loose  from  bedlam,  and  routed  the  mer- 
cenary armies  sent  against  them  one  after  another; 
but  after  a  time  the  revolt  collapsed  as  suddenly  as 
it  was  begun,  and  the  slaves  returned  to  their  bond- 
age. One  of  the  effects  of  slavery  is  to  paralyze  in 
the  individual  the  moral  elements  of  independent 
manhood,  and  to  put  in  their  place  a  cowering  spirit 
of  subserviency  to  masters;  and  usually,  in  a  slave 
revolt,  as  soon  as  revenge  is  satisfied,  they  are  easily 
subdued  and  made  to  return  to  their  former  servile 
relations. 

Legalized  oppression  has  always  required  for  its 
maintenance  the  overawing  and  overpowering 
strength  of  a  mercenary  soldiery.  A  citizen  soldiery 
is  a  protection  to  the  rights  of  the  common  people; 
a  mercenary  soldiery  is  the  dependence  of  aristocracy 
and  legalized  oppression.  When  the  common  people 
are  exasperated  by  oppression  into  acts  of  lawless- 
ness, a  mercenary  soldiery  is  the  surest  dependency 
for  putting  them  down.  History  shows  that  this  has 
been  true  in  all  governments.  Is  not  the  United  States 
gradually  increasing  her  mercenary  military  forces? 
Who  are  the  ones  constantly  insisting  upon  the  need 
for  a  stronger  military  ?  Are  they  not  the  representa- 
tives of  predatory  wealth? 

The  Roman  Republic  would  have  fallen  much  soon- 
er than  it  did  had  it  not  been  for  the  almost  con- 
tinual acquisition  of  new  territory,  and  the  spoils  of 
war;  but  the  intolerable  conditions  of  legalized  op- 
pression could  not  go  on  forever,  and  Rome  fell. 

There  is  now  no  new  territory  which  the  United 
States  can  acquire;  the  public  land  domain  is  prac- 
tically used  up;  one  thousand  men  own  more  than 
half  of  the  nation's  wealth ;  rich,  law-defying  corpora- 
tions control  labor,  the  finances,  the  industries,  the 

105 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Judiciary,  the  SENATE,  and  therefore,  the  Govern- 
ment. The  United  States  has  traveled  faster  toward 
national  destruction  than  did  the  Roman  Republic. 
Why  cannot  men  see  this,  and  make  the  needed  saving 
reforms  before  it  is  too  late?  The  monied  aristoc- 
racy will  not  willingly  yield.  They  have  a  hold  on 
the  Government,  and  even  on  the  private  lives  of 
individuals,  which  cannot  easily  be  broken.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  masses,  pressed  down  lower  and 
lower  by  grinding  monopolies,  will  be  further  ener- 
vated by  the  degrading  effects  of  abject  poverty  and 
hopeless  toil,  and  their  physical  and  moral  ability 
for  resistance  against  oppression  reduced,  which  will 
render  them  impotent  in  the  future  struggle, — that 
may  be  indefinitely  delayed, — ^but  which,  in  the  end,, 
is  sure  to  come,  with  national  dissolution  to  follow. 
"Evils  hke  these,  long  working  in  the  heart  of  a 
nation,  make  their  own  cure  impossible.''  "A  rev- 
olution may  execute  judgment  on  one  generation,  and 
that  generation,  perhaps,  the  very  one  which  was 
beginning  to  see  and  to  repent  of  its  inherited  sins; 
but  it  cannot  restore  life  to  the  morally  dead;  and 
its  ill  success,  as  if  in  this  line  of  evil  no  curse 
should  be  wanting,  is  pleaded  by  other  oppressors 
as  a  defense  of  their  own  iniquity,  and  a  reason  fo" 
perpetuating  it  forever." 

The  tactics  of  aristocracy  and  predatory  wealth 
are  often  not  openly  to  oppose  popular  reforms,  but, 
by  exciting  the  imaginations  of  the  people,  by  lalse 
reasoning,  by  appeals  to  prejudice  and  party  spirit, 
by  creating  false  issues  and  organizing  antagonistic 
parties  among  the  people,  to  secure  delay;  well  know- 
ing that  the  advantages  of  delay  are  all  on  their  side. 

The  contemplation  of  present  and  probable  future 
conditions  disturbs  the  soul  like  a  horrible  dream. 
Sudden  and  great  catastrophies  attract  public  notice, 

io6 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

and  powerfully  arouse  human  sympathies ;  but  the 
patient  sufferings,  wrongs  and  miseries  of  the  op- 
pressed poor  claim  little  attention.  Only  the  salient 
events,  in  which  the  rich  and  great  were  concerned, 
are  given  any  prominence  in  history ;  as  to  the  down- 
trodden poor,  their  crimes  have  been  given  a  record, 
but  their  struggles,  and  suffering,  and  wretchedness, 
were  passed  unnoticed.  A  very  few  noble  souls,  like 
Dickens  of  England,  who  gave  to  their  dumb  miseries 
a  tongue  which  opened  to  the  light  of  heaven  and 
liberty  the  prison  doors  of  imprisoned  debtors,  have 
lifted  up  their  voices  against  oppression,  but,  in  the 
main,  their  wrongs  and  sufferings  have  been  obscured 
by  the  false  glamour  of  material  achievement,  their 
complainings  hushed  in  the  confusion  of  the  unre- 
lenting strife  for  material  wealth  and  political  power. 

So  onward,  ever  on,  the  striving,  trampling 

throngs ; — 
The  beat  of  drum    is    heard,    but    not    the    people's 

wrongs. 

It  would  require  a  man  whose  soul  had  felt  every 
pang  of  human  woe ;  who  had  a  command  of  language 
equal  to  express  every  shade  of  feeling,  every  degree 
of  pain  mental  and  physical,  the  horrors  of  crime, 
the  utter  hopelessness  of  despair,  and  a  pen  dipt  in  the 
red  blood  of  murdered  innocence,  a  vellum  taken  from 
broken  human  hearts  on  which  to  write,  to  fitly 
portray  the  aggregate  suffering  of  the  poor  and  op- 
pressed under  the  aristocratic,  capitalistic  system  dur- 
ing the  generations  that  are  past.  We  charge  that 
it  has  always  been  the  particular  province  and  pur- 
pose of  the  Senate  to  preserve  this  illogical,  inhuman, 
deadly  system.     Any  one  who  will  make  a  study  of 

107 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

sociological  and  political  subjects,  under  the  light  of 
history,  will  be  convinced  of  this  fact. 

The  House  of  Lords  in  England,  which  is  copied 
after  the  Roman  Senate,  exists  for  no  other  purpose 
but  to  preserve  the  English  aristocracy.  In  recent 
years,  there  has  developed  a  growing  sentiment  among 
the  English  people  to  make  the  House  of  Lords  elec- 
tive instead  of  hereditary. 

The  framers  of  our  Government,  Washington,  Al- 
exander Hamilton,  and  others,  constituting  a  majority 
of  the  first  Federal  Convention  which  drafted  our  Na- 
tional Constitution,  were  good  men,  and  patriots ;  but 
they  had  come  from  the  English  aristocracy,  and  were 
not  free  from  its  predilections  and  prejudices.  The 
manner  of  electing  United  States  Senators  by  the 
State  Legislatures  instead  of  by  a  direct  vote  of  the 
people,  was  incorporated  in  the  Federal  Constitution, 
as  they  termed  it,  "To  make  it  a  more  conservative 
body";  the  real  reason  was  to  place  a  legislative  bar- 
rier against  the  expression  of  the  popular  will,  and  .to 
preserve  the  aristocratic  interests.  Thus  another 
tooth  of  the  dragon  was  sown. 

We  have  no  objection  to  an  Upper  Assembly  in 
the  Congress,  provided  it  is  made  a  popular  body 
by  direct  election  of  the  people.  The  only  excuse 
for  the  existence  of  the  United  States  Senate  is  to 
give  to  each  State,  as  an  integral  part  of  the  Union, 
equal  representation  in  the  Upper  Assembly  of  the 
Congress.  This  contention  is  just,  and  would  not  be 
objectionable,  if  the  Senators  were  elected  by  a  direct 
vote  of  the  people. 

We  are  fully  satisfied  that  there  is  a  constitutional 
majority  of  the  voters  in  all  the  States  who  favor 
a  constitutional  amendment  making  United  States  Sen- 
ators elective  by  the  popular  vote  of  the  people  in 
the    States    from   which    they    are   chosen.     With    a 

1 08 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

large  number  of  citizens,  the  idea  entertained  is  sim- 
ply this; — that  there  is  quite  enough  of  conservatism 
in  the  Courts  to  meet  all  the  conservative  needs  of 
the  Government,  and  that,  with  the  United  States 
Senate  as  at  present  constituted,  there  is  a  preponder- 
ance of  conservatism  which  is  obstructive  to  progress, 
and  detrimental  to  the  public  welfare. 

By  electing  United  States  Senators  by  popular  vote, 
the  Congress  would  be  made  more  completely  and 
truly  a  representative  body ;  and  the  Congress,  if  made 
a  popular  body,  is  "the  bulwark  of  the  people's  lib- 
erties," and  not  the  Courts;  because  it  is  nearest  to 
them,  and  representative  of  their  will.  The  Courts 
are  farthest  removed  from  the  people,  and  while  they 
must  be  upheld  when  in  the  right,  and  in  the  enforce- 
ment of  law,  we  are  frank  to  say  that  we  are  not  of 
those  who  believe  the  Courts  are  infallible  and  incor- 
ruptible. On  the  contrary,  history  proves  to  us  that 
the  leaning  of  the  Judiciary  in  all  countries  is  toward 
private  and  corporate  interests  as  against  popular 
rights. 

The  Federal  Constitution  gave  to  the  Congress  the 
ampler  powers  of  the  coordinate  branches  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. The  Lower  House  of  the  Congress  can 
impeach  the  President,  it  can  impeach  any  Federal 
Judge  in  the  United  States  Courts;  but  the  Senate 
has  the  sole  right  to  try  the  impeachment  and  render 
judgment.  The  tribunal  for  trying  impeachments 
should  be  composed  of  an  equal  number  of  Senators 
and  Congressmen,  chosen  by  their  respective  bodies 
for  that  purpose. 

The  power  of  impeachment  is  the  only  means  of 
disciplining  the  Federal  Judges  and  holding  them  to 
strict  equity  within  proper  jurisdiction,  and  to  the 
conservation  of  popular  rights.  If  the  United  States 
Senate  was  a  popular  body  as  well  as  the  Lower 

109 


THE   DRAGON^S   TEETH 

House,  the  Congress  could  wield  the  power  of  im- 
peachment with  effect ;  and  this  it  should  do  whenever 
necessary  to  protect  the  weak  from  the  aggressions 
of  the  strong,  and  the  civil  rights  of  the  people;  even 
if  it  became  obligatory  to  impeach  the  whole  Su- 
preme Court  itself,  to  the  end  that  our  Federal  Judi- 
ciary may  be  kept  pure  and  incorrupt  from  the  cor- 
rupting influences  of  cupidity,  private  interests,  and 
corporate  greed.  We  cannot  have  a  truly  democratic 
government  without  making  the  Judiciary  measurably 
subordinate  to  the  Law-making  Power. 

It  is  well  that  the  people  should  understand  the 
immense  power  which  they  can  wield  through  the 
Congress  when  once  it  is  made  a  truly  representative 
body  in  the  election  of  United  States  Senators  by 
popular  vote.  Needed  amendments  to  the  Constitu- 
tion can  then  be  made,  public  criminals  can  be  brought 
to  justice  and  punished  for  their  crimes,  the  awful 
burden  of  debt  and  taxation  which  now  rests  upon 
the  people  can  be  removed,  and  that  of  which  they 
have  been  unjustly  plundered  can  be  restored. 

We  do  not  decry  the  efforts  put  forth  in  an  educa- 
tional or  religious  way  for  the  intellectual,  moral,  and 
spiritual  uplifting  of  the  people ;  we  heartily  welcome 
any  agency  so  employed;*  but  the  people  will  never 
rise  to  the  dignity  of  responsible  citizenship,  nor  to 
the  full  stature  and  nobility  of  perfect  manhood  and 
womanhood,  until  the  pressure  is  taken  off  from  the 
top;  and  one  of  the  heaviest  of  the  top-weights  is 
the  United  States  Senate,  as  at  present  constituted. 


♦There  can  be  spiritual  development  independent  of 
physical  environment;  but  it  still  remains  that  man's 
physical  well-being  depends  on  physical  laws. 

IIO 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 


CHAPTER  Vn 

MONEY — THE  GOD  OF  GOLD 

The  Jews,  though  they  had  seen  the  wonders  wrought 

By  Power  Divine,  by  which  they  had  been  brought 

From  under  bondage  in  an  alien  land ; 

Though  they   had  seen  the  sea,  at  God's  command 

Divide   its   waters   for  a   safe  highway. 

And  close  upon  their  enemies  as  prey; 

Though  they  had  seen  the  smitten  rock  that  burst 

Into   a   spring  to    satisfy   their   thirst ; 

Though,  in  Er  Rahah's  plain  they  felt  the  shocks 

Of  mighty  earthquakes  rending  solid  rocks, 

When  o'er  the  mount  Jehovah's  footsteps  trod. 

And   heard   at  Sinai   the  voice  of  God 

Amid  the  lightning,  thundering  aloud 

Commandments  of  the  law  from  out  the  cloud, 

They  made  a  god  of  gold,  a  "golden  calf." 

It  made  the  angels  weep  and  devils  laugh. 

By  Moses  ground  to  powder,  into  water  cast, 

They  had  to  drink  their  folly  at  the  last. 

So  those  who  worship  now  the  god  of  gold 

Their  gross  stupidity  will  yet  behold. 

Man  bows  no  longer  down  to  wood  or  stone, 

Yet  makes  a  golden  image  of  his  own; 

And  like  the  stupid  Jews  in  story  told. 

Pays   foolish  homage  to  a  god  of  gold. 

Wealth's   acquisition   is   a   virtue   claimed ; 

The  rich  are  honored,  while  the  poor  are  shamed, 

ilil 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

A  bank  account  the   rule   for  measurement 
Of  mens'  abilities,  with  small  dissent. 
The  nation  is  debauched,  like  Rome  of  old. 
And  rich  and  poor  alike  bow  down  to  gold. 
The  loss  of  Liberty  will  be  the  cost, 
In  Greed's  devouring  maelstrom  will  be  lost. 
The   Sinai   of  Law,   though   thund'ring   loud, 
Is  little  heeded  by  the  gold-mad  crowd. 
We  need  more  Daniels,  patriotic,  bold, 
Who  will  not  bow  the  knee  to  gods  of  gold. 
We  need  a  Moses  who  could  make  us  free, 
And  call  apart  the  friends  of  Liberty 
To  make  a  stand  for  righteousness  of  life, 
And  end  the  greed,  dishonesty  and  strife. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SOCIAL   NECESSITY   FOR    MONEY 

Money  is  such  a  universal  necessity  of  civilized  so- 
ciety that  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  society  without 
money. 

Deprive  society  of  money,  and  the  activities  and 
industry  would  languish  for  want  of  an  attractive 
and  commensurate  reward,  science  and  art  would  be 
restricted  to  such  a  degree  that  there  would  occur  a 
rapid  retrogression  back  to  primitive  conditions, 
wherein  were  supplied  only  the  simplest,  most  neces- 
sary physical  wants;  man's  exalted  intellectual  en- 
dowments would  be  neglected,  the  higher  sciences  and 
the  fine  arts  would  perish. 

The  comforts  and  pleasant  environments  of  civilized 
society  are  purchased  with  money. 

The  railways  and  steamship  lines  have  brought  the 

1X2 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

markets  of  the  world  to  our  doors.  The  colder  re- 
gions of  the  North  feast  on  the  fruits  of  the  tropic 
climes.  There  is  a  world-wide  exchange  and  inter- 
change of  commodities.  The  various  products  of  dif- 
ferent countries  are  everywhere  available.  The  tele- 
graph and  the  telephone  have  put  us  in  speaking  dis- 
tance with  the  most  remote  peoples,  who  are  thus  made 
our  next-door  neighbors.  None  of  which  would  be 
possible  without  money. 

Scientific  discoveries  and  scientific  researches,  which 
have  in  the  past  contributed  so  largely  to  the  amelior- 
ation of  adverse  conditions,  to  the  triumph  over  na- 
ture, to  the  safety  and  dignity  of  human  life,  de- 
pend upon  money. 

Astronomers  require  telescopes  and  observatories  to 
enable  them  to  read  the  wisdom  taught  by  the  stars, 
and  chemists  must  have  costly  laboratories  for  experi- 
mentation in  separating  matter  into  its  elements  and 
discovering  their  properties  and  uses ;  schools  and  col- 
leges are  necessary  factors  in  education ;  governments 
are  essential  to  guarantee  to  the  people  the  protection 
of  "life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness" ;  the 
modern  needs  of  society  demand  ships  on  the  seas, 
railways  on  the  land,  telegraph  and  telephone,  and  all 
these  cost  money;  the  vast  undertakings  of  philan- 
thropy and  religion,  such  as  schools,  churches,  hos- 
pitals, preaching,  missionary  enterprises,  eleemosynary 
institutions  for  the  moral  and  physical  uplift  of  man- 
kind, require  an  immense  outlay  of  money,  and  could 
not  be  successfully  carried  on  without  it.  Our  cities, 
with  all  their  wealth  of  art  and  treasure,  were  built 
with  money. 

The  history  of  a  people  is  most  permanently  and 
correctly  written  in  their  architecture.  Churches,  ca- 
thedrals, temples,  public  buildings  and  structures,  stat- 
ues in  stone  and  bronze,  are  the  lasting  monuments  to 

113 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

the  character,  culture  and  refinement  of  a  people,  by 
which  future  generations  will  measure  the  standard  of 
their  civilization. 

Money  is  a  social  necessity,  but  its  benefits  to  the 
community  depend  upon  the  manner  of  its  use;  and 
that  depends  as  much  on  judgment  as  on  good  inten- 
tions. Benefactions,  unwisely  made,  may  increase  the 
evils  which  they  were  intended  to  cure.  Beneficence, 
and  the  means  and  capacity  to  bestow  it  wisely,  is  a 
rare  combination. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  POPULAR  CONCEPTION'  OF  MONEY — ITS  INFLUENCE 
ON   MORALS — -USES  AND  ABUSES 

"Making  money"  is  the  ruling  passion  of  the  age, 
the  prime  object  and  incentive  of  human  endeavor, 
whether  the  efforts  be  laudable  or  unlaudable,  just  or 
criminal. 

Money  is  made  far  more  than  a  measure  of  value; 
it  is  made  the  measure  of  success,  of  ability,  and  re- 
spectability. Failure  to  make  money  is  regarded  as  a 
discrediting  moral  delinquency,  and  is  sufficient  to  put 
the  degrading  stamp  of  failure  on  a  man's  life ;  while 
the  successful  accumulation  of  money  merits  society's 
approving  stamp  of  success. 

If  we  are  asked  how  much  a  man  is  worth,  we 
understand  that  money  is  meant,  and  our  answer  is 
expressed  in  dollars,  in  like  manner  as  if  we  answered 
the  same  question  about  a  horse. 

Success  in  accumulating  money  is  construed  to  de- 
note a  high  order  of  ability,  and  to  fit  a  man  for  re- 
sponsible official  position ;  while  failure  to  make  money 

114 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

is  understood  to  show  a  lack  of  ability,  and  therefore 
unfitness  for  positions  of  public  trust.  The  argu- 
ments oflfered  are  that  if  a  man  has  made  money  in 
his  own  business,  it  proves  his  ability  to  run  the 
public's  business;  but  if  he  has  failed  to  make  money 
in  his  own  business,  it  proves  lack  of  ability,  and  he 
is  not  to  be  trusted  with  the  public's  business.  Money 
is  thus  made  the  key  that  unlocks  the  gate  to  political 
honors  and  social  distinction,  and  all  those  who  have 
not  that  key  are  left  on  the  outside. 

Since  the  sense  of  money  degenerated  into  a  com- 
modity estimate,  instead  of  a  simple  measure  of  value, 
the  tendency  has  been  to  regard  it  as  the  only  com- 
modity of  real  worth,  and  to  put  a  money  estimate  on 
everything. 

Our  national  emblem,  and  the  cryptogram  on  our 
money  is  the  same,  and  when  we  speak  of  our  na- 
tional greatness,  we  refer  not  so  much  to  the  nation's 
glorious  history,  its  great  constitution,  as  to  the  sum 
in  dollars  of  our  national  wealth.  With  us  almost 
everything  is  reduced  to  a  matter  of  dollars  and  cents. 

Honest  government  is  fiduciary  in  character,  not 
emolumental,  but  the  policy  of  our  government  has 
been  subordinated  to  ''making  money"  as  the  main 
object,  by  which  the  privileged  classes  have  been  en- 
couraged to  exploit  the  natural  resources  of  the  coun- 
try in  criminal  waste,  and  to  accumulate  for  them- 
selves a  vastly  unjust  proportion  of  the  nation's 
wealth.  If  reforms  are  insisted  upon,  demanding  jus- 
tice and  equal  rights,  whereby  the  * 'money  making" 
of  the  privileged  classes  is  threatened,  they  immediate- 
ly raise  the  alarm  that  business  is  being  injured, 
"vested  rights"  interfered  with,  and  that  they  are  los- 
ing money ;  that  the  proposed  laws  are  unjust  because 
they  deprive  the  creditors  of  their  profits,  the  investors 
of  their  dividends,   and  that  money    (which  in   this 

115 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

instance  they  designate  capital),  will  be  withdrawn 
from  the  uses  of  trade  and  industry,  that  working  men 
will  be  thrown  out  of  employment,  that  manufactures 
will  stop,  that  men  owning  small  businesses  will  be 
bankrupt.  Confronted  with  panic  and  commercial 
ruin,  the  proposed  reforms  are  abandoned,  or  if  en- 
acted into  laws,  nullified  in  their  execution. 

The  "full  dinner  pail,"  in  times  of  so-called  pros- 
perity, is  sufficient  argument  to  continue  the  same  pol- 
icy; and  the  empty  dinner  pail,  in  times  of  money- 
contraction,  is  charged  to  inimical  legislation,  inter- 
fering with  "vested  rights"  and  the  "investment  of 
capital" ;  and  so  the  empty  dinner  pail  is  likewise 
made  a  successful  argument  for  continuing  the  same 
policy.  Money  is  thus  made  an  all-powerful  machine 
of  grinding  oppression.  Into  this  machine  is  cast  the 
soil  of  our  valleys,  the  forests  of  our  hills  and  moun- 
tains, the  treasures  of  our  mines,  the  waters  of  our 
once  limpid  streams,  manhood  and  womanhood,  old 
age  and  childhood,  physical  and  intellectual  ability  for 
service,  health,  honor,  intelligence,  virtue;  out  of  it 
issue  as  refuse  and  wastrel,  lands  exhausted  of  fertil- 
ity, barren  and  gullied  hills,  depleted  mines,  polluted 
streams,  physical  and  moral  wrecks,  disease,  want, 
suffering,  dishonor,  ignorance,  death,  suicide  and 
crime;  and  the  sole  treasured  product  of  it  all  is 
the  blood-stained  money  profits  of  a  privileged  few. 

The  passion  for  "money  making"  is  world-wide,  the 
universal  folly  of  mankind.  Every  nation  has  felt 
its  curse,  and  at  some  time  incurred  national  dishonor. 
France  had  its  Panama  scandal  that  wrecked  fortunes 
and  lives,  brought  suffering  to  the  poor,  and  weak- 
ened the  national  credit;  England  had  its  South  Sea 
Bubble,  and  the  United  States  its  Credit  Mobilier 
Frauds;  but  the  greatest  evil  in  the  United  States  is 
the  ruinous  despoliation  of  the  nation's  natural  wealth 

ii6 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

by  the  privileged,  protected  classes.  Which,  if  per- 
sisted in,  will  leave  to  the  poverty-stricken  gener- 
ations that  are  to  follow,  an  impoverished  country  as 
an  inevitable  legacy. 

The  methods  of  so-called  "high  finance"  are  the 
same  in  principle  as  the  gaming  tables  of  Monte  Carlo 
or  the  race  tracks  of  Sheepshead  Bay ;  and  since  cus- 
tom has  obliterated  the  old  standards  of  ethical  busi- 
ness, there  is  no  longer  a  definite  line  of  demarcation 
between  legitimate  business  and  speculation,  hundreds, 
every  year,  some  perhaps  almost  unconsciously,  drift 
from  the  safe  waters  of  legitimate  trade  into  the  wild 
and  turbulent  maelstrom  of  gambling  speculation. 

A  desire  for  knowledge,  for  a  home,  for  the  com- 
forts of  life,  food  and  raiment,  stimulates  to  laudable 
industry  to  make  the  money  to  buy  these  things,  and 
is  in  the  highest  degree  useful  to  society;  but  when 
the  passion  for  "making  money"  creates  the  gambling 
propensity,  the  wish  to  make  money  without  giving  an 
honest  equivalent,  then  instead  of  being  an  incentive 
to  honest  industry,  the  incitement  is  rather  to  avoid 
labor,  and  the  result  is  a  paralysis  of  industrial  ef- 
fort, and  the  tendency  to  dishonesty  and  crime. 

The  popular  conception  of  money  is  that  it  is  some- 
thing of  particular  value,  and  that  its  use  is  to  buy 
things  with.  The  idea  is  that  if  you  have  plenty  of 
money  you  can  buy  whatever  you  want;  but  that  if 
you  have  not  much  money  you  cannot  buy  the  things 
you  want,  and  that,  perforce,  you  will  have  to  do 
without  them. 

If  you  have  money,  you  can  buy  fine  clothes  and 
dress  in  the  latest  style;  but  if  you  have  no  money 
you  must  dress  cheaply  or  in  rags.  If  you  have 
money,  you  can  go  to  school,  buy  books,  and  pay 
for  an  education;  but  if  you  have  no  money  you 
must  grow  up  in  ignorance.     If  you  have  money, 

117 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

you  can  own  a  home  and  furnish  it  elegantly,  expen- 
sively ;  have  fine  horses  and  carriages,  automobiles, 
and  servants  to  wait  on  you.  But  if  you  have  no 
money,  you  must  live  in  a  cabin  cheaply  furnished, 
must  walk  when  you  travel,  and  do  your  own  work. 
If  one  has  plenty  of  money,  he  is  accounted  rich;  if 
he  has  no  money,  he  is  called  poor. 

With  the  people,  gold,  silver,  and  paper  notes,  are 
all  money;  but  they  have  the  correct  idea  that  gold 
is  the  standard,  and  "good  as  gold"  is  a  common  ex- 
pression. While  they  will  accept  silver  or  paper  money 
as  readily  as  they  will  gold,  or  even  in  preference  on 
account  of  convenience,  it  is  because  they  believe  the 
silver  and  paper  money  to  be  "as  good  as  gold." 

The  possession  of  money  means  material  independ- 
ence and  social  distinction.  To  have  plenty  of  money 
is  to  be  rich ;  to  have  no  money  is  to  be  poor.  Those 
who  have  money  can  command  the  services  of  the 
poor,  or  purchase  the  products  of  human  skill  and 
toil.  The  poor  must  work  for  money  with  which  to 
buy  food  and  clothing,  and  the  other  necessaries  of 
life ;  and  this  necessity  forces  them  to  become  the  ser- 
vants of  the  rich.  Those  who  have  plenty  of  money 
can  command  for  their  use  and  enjoyment  the  choicest 
of  delicacies  in  food  and  drink,  mansions  in  which  to 
dwell,  with  every  comfort  and  luxury  which  human 
art  can  produce;  those  who  have  no  money  must 
live  in  cabins  or  hovels,  and  confine  themselves  to 
bare  necessities. 

A  monetary  value  is  placed  upon  everything.  What- 
ever any  one  desires  to.  possess  or  to  enjoy,  the  first 
question  is,  how  much  money  will  it  take  to  buy  it, 
whether  it  be  an  article  of  food  from  the  grocer,  meat 
from  the  butcher,  or  a  ticket  to  the  concert.  Whether 
men  sell  or  buy,  a  monetary  price  is  placed  on  what 
is  sold  or  bought.    Farmers  are  more  concerned  about 

Ii8 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  monetary  value  of  their  farm  products  than  they 
are  about  the  comforts  of  Hving-.  Whether  horses, 
cattle,  hogs,  grain  or  potatoes,  the  value  is  estimated 
in  money.  So  many  acres  will  produce  so  many  bush- 
els of  corn,  wheat  or  potatoes,  which  will  be  worth 
so  many  dollars.  So  many  horses,  so  many  cattle, 
so  many  hogs,  will  bring  so  much  money.  Money 
being  the  chief  end  of  production,  you  hear  farmers 
speak  of  growing  certain  things  as  "a  money  crop." 
Cotton  is  the  "money  crop"  of  certain  Southern  states. 
During  slavery,  before  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  im- 
mense tracts  of  land  were  cleared  of  the  forests,  the 
finest  kinds  of  timber  put  in  great  "log-heaps"  and 
burned  (because  timber  was  plentiful  then  and  not 
worth  much  money,)  and  the  land  was  cultivated  in 
cotton  from  year  to  year  for  the  money  it  would  bring, 
until  thousands  of  acres  of  the  best  land  were  ex- 
hausted of  their  fertility  and  worn  and  washed  into 
gullies. 

In  the  Middle  States  the  "money  crop"  was  corn 
and  hogs.  As  fast  as  the  land  was  worn  out,  fresh 
land  w^as  cleared  up  and  put  in  corn,  to  be  worn 
out  in  like  manner,  all  for  the  sake  of  money. 

The  inevitable  result  is  that  the  land  has  long  since 
been  exhausted  of  its  virgin  fertility,  and  thousands 
of  acres  of  once  fertile  lands  now  lie  abandoned  in  bar- 
ren, uncultivated  wastes  and  sedgy  moors.  Cotton  is 
still  the  "money  crop"  of  the  South,  and  farmers, 
for  a  number  of  years,  have  been  stimulating  their 
exhausted  soils  with  patent  fertilizers,  which  only 
hasten  a  complete  waste  of  fertility.  In  some  sections 
the  "money  crop"  has  changed  with  changing  market 
conditions,  and,  because,  on  the  exhausted  lands,  the 
same  crops  cannot  be  profitably  grown. 

The  Bluegrass   section  of  Kentucky  was  a  cattle 

119 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

country  before  the  formation  of  the  Beef  Trust.  The 
land  was  naturally  suited  for  grazing,  and  the  cattle 
industry  was  profitable.  At  that  time  the  Bluegrass 
section  of  Kentucky  was  one  of  the  prettiest  in  all 
the  world.  Broad,  rolHng  fields  of  blue  grass  stretched 
from  horizon  to  horizon,  and  herds  of  fine  cattle  fat- 
tened upon  that  succulent  grass.  The  Beef  Trust 
put  down  the  price  of  cattle  to  a  point  where  the 
industry  was  no  longer  profitable,  and  the  Kentucky 
farmers  took  up  tobacco  raising  in  its  stead.  The 
beautiful  fields  of  blue  grass  were  plowed  up  and 
planted  in  tobacco  as  a  "money  crop."  The  herds  of 
cattle  were  sold  for  what  they  would  bring.  The 
injury  to  the  natural  beauty  of  that  section  is  almost 
unbelievable,  and  the  once  fertile  soil  is  being  rapidly 
exhausted.  Lately  the  Tobacco  Trust  put  down  the 
price  of  tobacco  till  it  was  no  longer  profitable,  and 
the  latest  crop  there  is  the  "Night  Riders" ;  and  we 
might  call  them  a  "money  crop,"  too,  for  a  higher 
price  for  their  tobacco  was  the  first  object  of  their 
organization. 

Cattle  raising  on  the  plains  of  the  West  has  been 
greatly  reduced  by  the  low  prices  paid  for  cattle  by 
the  Beef  Trust,  and  the  farmers  have  turned  to  grain 
as  a  "money  crop,"  with  its  consequent  impoverish- 
ment of- the  soil.  The  farmer  exhausts  his  lands  to 
make  a  little  money,  and  then  spends  that  money  for 
high  priced  machinery,  for  patent  fertilizers,  ready- 
made  clothing  and  manufactured  products.  The  money 
soon  goes  back  to  the  money  centres,  into  the  hands 
of  the  rich.  The  costly  machinery  wears  out  or  goes 
to  wrack  in  wind  and  weather  in  the  fields,  the  wasted 
lands  are  often  mortgaged  for  debt,  but  still  the 
"money  crops"  are  planted,  and  the  ruinous  policy 
continues. 

1 20 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 


CHAPTER  X. 

"interest,"  or  the  reproductive  power  of  money — 

credit  and  its  dangerous  temptations 

to  the  ambitious. 

Another  popular  estimate  of  money  is  that  it  pos- 
sesses a  reproductive  power,  or,  in  popular  phrase, 
"Money  draws  interest."  Young  men  are  urged  to 
save  money  and  put  it  away  in  a  bank,  or  loan  it, 
where  it  will  "draw  interest."  It  is  pointed  out  to 
them  how  successful  men  become  rich  by  doing  thus. 
All  of  which  is  true ;  but  this  very  "interest-drawing" 
power  of  money  absorbs  the  profits  of  production,  and 
whenever  the  interest  rate  is  more  than  the  natural 
profits  of  production,  and  its  tendency  is  to  be  more, 
poverty  is  the  portion  of  those  who  have  it  to  pay. 
Many  young  men  start  bank  accounts  and  save  money 
until  they  have  enough  to  merit  the  popular  commen- 
dation of  having  made  "a  good  start  in  life." 

In  this  they  act  wisely,  and  if  they  could  continue 
to  add  to  this  sum,  instead  of  drawing  from  it,  they 
would  become  rich  men.  But  when  a  young  man  mar- 
ries and  assumes  the  obligations  of  a  family;  a  home 
has  to  be  purchased  and  furnished;  children  have  to 
be  clothed  and  educated ;  expenses  of  living — clothing, 
food,  rentals,  insurance,  taxes,  drug  bills  and  doctors' 
bills  have  to  be  paid;  he  has  to  launch  a  business 
where  he  comes  in  contact  every  day  with  opposing 
interests  of  others,  and  he  is  peculiarly  fortunate  if 
he  more  than  holds  his  own.  In  most  instances  the 
incurring  of  debt  becomes  unavoidable ;  then  the  inter- 

121 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

est  drawing  power  of  money  operates  to  his  disad- 
vantage. If  the  interest  on  borrowed  money  exceeds 
the  profits  of  his  trade  in  business,  or  the  products  of 
his  farm,  insolvency  is  the  speedy  result.  The  man  is 
blamed  as  "unfortunate,"  or  with  being  "a  poor  man- 
ager," in  common  parlance.  The  system  of  money  is 
never  blamed. 

In  times  of  money-contraction  or  expansion,  the 
people  speak  of  money  as  being  "tight"  or  "plentiful." 
When  money  is  "tight,"  as  they  express  it,  they  either 
blame  the  party  in  power  in  the  government,  or  charge 
it  to  adverse  legislation,  which  has  supposedly  stopped 
the  investment  of  capital;  but  they  never  once  think 
of  charging  any  fault  to  the  money  system. 

Officials  of  government  get  up  monetary  commis- 
sions to  enquire  into  the  needs  of  our  "currency  sys- 
tem"— ^bear  in  mind  "currency  system,"  which  means 
the  silver  and  paper  based  on  gold  redemption.  Gold 
is  the  only  real  money  in  the  last  analysis,  according 
to  their  logic,  and  they  think  there  can  be  nothing 
wrong  with  gold.  They  continually  search  for  the 
trouble  in  the  "currency." 

The  "currency,"  as  they  call  it,  however,  is  all  that 
supervenes  between  the  poor,  the  debtor,  and  ruin — 
a  fact  of  which  they  seem  to  be  vaguely  aware,  else 
they  would  completely  do  away  with  the  "currency" 
in  the  interest  of  the  creditor  and  money-lender.  Our 
currency,  composed  of  silver  coins  and  paper  notes,  is 
the  people's  money. 

In  the  exchange  of  commodities  among  rural  popu- 
lations, the  primitive  system  of  barter,  from  which 
the  use  of  money  was  derived,  still  obtains  to  a  con- 
siderable extent;  and  even  in  trade  is  this  limitedly 
true.  These  barter  exchanges  are  usually  effected  by 
the  use  of  articles  of  current  acceptance,  which  are 
popularly  referred  to  as  being  "as  good  as  the  money," 

.123 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

which  means  that  they  can  be  converted  into  money 
without  loss.  A  money  price  is  the  basis,  even  in  the 
direct  exchange  of  commodities. 

Barter  was  the  only  mode  of  exchange  among  prim- 
itive peoples.  Money  is  the  invention  of  civilization, 
with  which  it  began.  While  money  is  the  medium  of 
exchange  used  by  civilized  mankind,  barter  has  never 
been  entirely  discontinued;  and  it  is  often  well  for 
the  poor  that  they  can  sometimes  take  advantage  of 
barter  exchanges.  Often  a  poor  man  can  exchange 
his  services  or  a  commodity  which  he  does  not  need, 
or  one  that  he  can  readily  dispense  with,  for  a  com- 
modity which  he  does  need.  Farm  laborers  are  often 
paid  for  their  labor  in  commodities,  receiving  for  a 
day's  work  on  the  farm  a  bushel  of  corn,  or  five 
pounds  of  meat,  or  some  other  commodity  or  com- 
modities of  equal  worth,  which  will  meet  their  necessi- 
ties. If  money  should  be  entirely  withdrawn  from 
circulation  among  the  poor,  they  could  and  would 
have  recourse  to  barter. 

One  influence  of  money  is  social  segregation.  Peo- 
ple are  classed  according  to  the  amount  of  money 
they  have;  or  rather,  they  are  classed  by  style  of  liv- 
ing and  manner  of  dress,  and  these  are  determined  by 
the  amount  of  money  each  person  possesses.  The 
possession  or  non-possession  of  money  divides  the 
people  into  what  are  called  the  "lower  classes,"  who 
have  no  money ;  the  "middle  class,"  who  have  moder- 
ate amounts  of  money,  and  the  "upper  class,"  who 
have — or  are  supposed  to  have — an  abundance  of 
money,  enabling  them  to  dress  and  maintain  a  costly 
style  of  living.  No  one  can  enter  or  remain  in  what 
is  called  "high-class  society,"  without  the  money  to 
live  and  dress  as  they  do.  This  appears  to  be  espe- 
cially true  in  the  matter  of  dress.  Intelligence,  edu- 
cation, and  moral  character  are  not  enough;  unless 

123 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

one  can  dress  well,  he  or  she  is  not  admitted  into 
what  is  called  "society."  Parents  are  usually  ambi- 
tious for  their  children,  if  not  for  themselves ;  and, 
realizing  the  importance  of  dress,  they  often  tax 
themselves  beyond  their  means,  and  acquire  the  ruin- 
ous practice  of  going  in  debt. 

The  kind  of  house  one  lives  in,  its  location  as  to 
neighborhood  and  environments;  the  style  of  living 
as  well  as  dress,  have  a  determining  influence  on  so- 
cial position.  People  are  judged  by  the  society  in 
which  they  are  classed. 

Many  maintain  for  a  time  the  false  semblance  of 
prosperity  by  going  in  debt  in  order  to  hold  their 
social  position.  When  they  have  incurred  a  burden  of 
debt  which  they  are  no  longer  able  to  carry,  and  they 
see  bankruptcy  and  social  degradation  impending,  they 
feel  that  they  have  lost  all  in  life  worth  possessing, 
and  the  very  fountain  of  their  lives  is  embittered. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  some  resort  to  every  con- 
ceivable scheme,  honest  or  dishonest,  to  make  money 
with  which  to  keep  or  to  regain  their  social  standing, 
and  we  have  defaulting  cashiers  and  officers  of  banks, 
embezzlers  of  trust  funds,  grafters  in  official  posi- 
tion, betrayers  of  public  and  private  confidence.  The 
result  is  criminality,  degradation,  ruin  of  character, 
suicide  and  death. 

The  association  of  young  people  is  restricted  to  the 
class  in  which  they  belong.  Parents,  aware  of  this 
fact,  try  to  dress  their  children  so  that  they  can  go, 
as  popularly  termed,  in  "good  society."  Children,  in 
addition  to  being  influenced  in  their  characters  and 
habits  by  the  associations  which  they  keep,  are  apt  to 
marry  in  that  class  when  they  grow  up.  The  circum- 
stances, environment,  opportunities,  social  status — 
the  whole  future  of  their  lives  is  involved  in  the  kind 
of  company  they  keep ;  and,  right  or  wrong,  that  de- 

124 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

pends  on  style  of  living  and  dress,  which,  in  turn,  de- 
pend on  money. 

Children  of  parents  who  belong  to  the  different 
Christian  denominations  stay  away  from  Sunday 
school  and  preaching  because  they  "can't  dress  well 
enough  to  go,"  which  directly  affects  their  moral 
training;  because  young  people  must  have  entertain- 
ment of  some  kind,  and  if  they  cannot  get  it  where 
they  should,  the  chances  are  they  will  get  it  where 
they  should  not.  Parents  stay  at  home  of  Sundays 
from  the  same  excuse,  and  their  children  are  morally 
influenced  by  their  example. 

Those  who  make  and  set  the  styles  of  dress,  change 
those  styles  as  often  as  the  seasons  change,  and  the 
object  on  their  part  is  money  profits.  With  the  rich, 
the  styles  are  adopted  to  make  display. 

A  young  lady  may  have  a  pretty  suit,  yet,  if  it  has 
gone  out  of  the  style,  she  cannot  go  to  church,  into 
society,  or  anywhere,  till  she  gets  a  new  suit  made 
in  the  latest  style. 

No  matter  how  unbecoming  the  new  style  may  be 
to  her;  no  matter  the  money  cost,  the  ability  or  in- 
ability to  buy  it,  she  must  have  it  anyway,  or  be 
considered  "poor  folk,"  it  being  considered  that  if  a 
person  is  not  dressed  in  the  latest  style  it  is  because 
that  person  has  not  the  necessary  money  or  credit. 

If  a  man's  business  in  any  way  depends  upon  credit, 
it  is  particularly  important  to  him  to  dress  his  family 
in  style  and  keep  up  appearances,  in  order  to  main- 
tain his  credit.  It  is  this  necessity  which  frequently 
puts  men  in  a  position  where,  financially,  they  cannot 
afford  the  standard  of  living  and  dress,  yet  they  can- 
not afford  the  disclosure  of  lack  of  money  which  any 
economy  would  make ;  because  that  would  injure  their 
credit — possibly  cause  their  creditors  to  at  once  de- 
mand settlement,  which  would  mean  bankruptcy,  ruin 

125 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

and  disgrace.  It  places  a  man  between  two  necessi- 
ties of  conduct,  neither  of  which  he  can  seemingly 
afford.  Honesty  is  set  against  the  necessity  for  du- 
plicity and  hypocrisy.  If  he  yields  to  the  necessity 
for  duplicity  and  hypocrisy,  the  probability  is  that 
he  will  only  delay  inevitable  bankruptcy,  the  evils  of 
which  will  be  greatly  augmented  when  it  does  come. 
It  is  difficult  to  appreciate  the  awful  strain  in  which 
most  people  are  living.  Each  individual  is  so  ob- 
sessed, possessed,  and  distressed  with  his  own  par- 
ticular troubles  and  difficulties  that  he  gives  little 
heed  or  concern  to  the  troubles  of  other  people. 

The  rich  set  the  gait  of  vulgar  extravagance,  and 
the  whole  nation  is  in  a  strain  trying  to  keep  up 
with  the  procession.  This  extravagance  is  not  only 
vulgar,  it  is  criminal ;  for  it  increases  want  and  suffer- 
ing with  the  poor,  and  encourages  dishonesty  and 
crime. 

Extravagance  has  reached  a  wild  excess 

In  vulgar  rivalry  to  make  display, 
In  millions  spent  each  year  for  costly  dress, 

And  millions  more  in  follies  of  the  day. 

The  rich  in  splendid  mansions  live  in  ease 
And  princely  luxury ;  while,  sad  to  tell, 

With  scarce  enough  their  hunger  to  appease, 
The  very  poor  in  crowded  hovels  dwell. 

In  sparkling  diamonds,  silks,  and  furs  arrayed, 
A  proud,  rich  lady  in  her  auto  speeds ; 

Her  sister,  poor,  in  garments  old  and  frayed, 
Must  walk;  the  rich  rides  by,  and  never  heeds. 

Her  poodle  dogs  wear  collars  costly  gemmed 
With  diamonds  and  pearls — on  carpets  tread, 

126 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

While  ragged,  barefeet  children  are  condemned 
To  walk  the  cold  hard  streets,  and  beg  for  bread. 

The  rich  man,  sordid  grown  with  hoarded  gold, 

Has  lost  all  pity  in  his  lust  for  gain; 
For  brother,  toiling  in  the  heat  or  cold. 

Cares  not,  and  passes  him  with  proud  disdain. 

In  shop  and  factory,  from  day  to  day, 
Frail  women,  girls,  and  children  young 

Are  forced  by  want  to  toil  for  little  pay; 
From  such  as  these  are  money  profits  wrung. 

Debarred,  like  criminals,  from  light  and  air, 
Forgotten  thousands  toil  for  daily  bread,' 

Whose  thin  and  pallid  cheeks  are  worn  with  care. 
To  them,  Ambition  sleeps,  and  Hope  is  dead. 

The  bestial   struggle  for  the  glitt'ring  gold 
Ignores  all  justice,  tramples  Mercy  down 

As  ruthlessly  as  any  tyrant  bold 

Who  wades  through  blood  to  win  a  worthless  crown. 

Jehovah  is  forgotten  in  the  race 

For  "making  money,"  sacred  things  down  trod 
And  disregarded  in  the  gold-mad  chase. 

And  Mammon  is  adored  instead  of  God. 

Some,  moved  by  Greed,  the  peoples'  rights  assail, 

The  calls  of  Holy  Charity  deny. 
They  never  hear  the  widow's  plaintive  wail, 

Nor  friendless  orphan's  sad  and  piteous  cry. 

They  wrest  the  profits  from  the  field  and  mine, 
And  fill  their  coffers  high  with  gold  unearned; 

They  take  unjust  advantage,  and  "combine," 
Whereby  the  laws  of  Government  are  spurned. 
127 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 


CHAPTER  XI. 

MATRIMONIAL    MARKETS — WANING    OF    CONJUGAL    AF- 
FECTION— ^VICE   AND  VIRTUE   CONTRASTED — SOME 
COMPENSATIONS  FOR  POVERTY. 

Marriage  is  often  made  a  mere  bargain,  and  you 
frequently  hear  reference  made  to  the  "Matrimonial 
Market."  The  ''eligible  party,"  referred  to  by  moth- 
ers, is  one  with  money  and  position  in  society.  Love, 
character,  compatability  of  taste  and  temperament,  the 
holy  obligations  of  wedlock,  are  disregarded  for  the 
sake  of  money  and  position  in  society.  Mothers  go 
to  large  expense  to  clothe  their  daughters  with  every 
artificial  attraction  of  dress  to  accentuate  their  physi- 
cal charms,  and  then  take  them  off  to  popular  re- 
sorts— to  the  beach,  to  the  salons  of  foreign  cities — 
setting  them  up  in  the  "Matrimonial  Market,"  to  be 
taken  by  the  highest  bidder — and  the  highest  bidder  is 
the  "eligible  party,"  with  the  money. 

Girls  are  carefully  instructed  in  the  etiquette  of 
high  society;  but  too  little  attention  is  given  to  the 
cultivation  of  correct  ideals  and  sound  moral  princi- 
ples. Is  it  any  wonder,  then,  that  there  is  a  waning 
of  conjugal  affection  and  faithfulness  among  that 
class  of  married  people,  and  a  constant  increase  of 
infidelity  to  the  marriage  vows;  domestic  scandals, 
and  divorces? 

In  such  marriages  there  is  little  moral  conception 
of  the  sacred  responsibilities  of  wedlock,  or  of  the 
obligations  to  establish  a  home. 

In  many  instances  there  is  no  conjugal  affection  to 

128 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

begin  with;  the  sacredness  of  the  marriage  relation 
is  made  a  mockery.  The  result  is  that  the  hollow 
pleasures  of  dress,  style,  and  society,  fail  to  satisfy; 
and,  lacking  the  moral  restraint  which  comes  from 
true  love  and  affection,  the  baser  passions  predomi- 
nate. Many  men  before  they  marry  have  already  de- 
based their  character  and  manhood  until  they  are 
nothing  more  than  the  empty  shells  of  burnt-out 
passion;  they  are  utterly  incapable  of  honest  love. 
Still,  if  they  have  plenty  of  money,  society  winks  at 
their  conduct,  condones  their  lechery  as  the  merest 
foibles,  the  common  indiscretions  of  youth,  and  classes 
them  with  the  "eligible  parties."  The  corrupting  in- 
fluence of  this  upon  the  social  standards  of  morals 
is  incalculable.  The  children  of  such  unions — when 
there  are  any — are  apt  to  inherit,  if  not  disease,  the 
debased  moral  natures  of  their  parents.  What  re- 
ward has  virtue  when  money  is  made  to  hide  the 
gravest  faults! 

For  the  sake  of  a  little  money-revenue,  vice  is 
licensed  in  large  cities,  to  flaunt  its  red  lights  to  lure 
to  shame,  and  sin,  and  death,  in  order  that  a  few 
may  wear  silks  and  diamonds. 

Still,  money  is  essential  to  civilized  society.  The 
proper  use  of  money  adds  to  comfort,  convenience, 
enjoyment,  the  exercise  of  human  capacities,  the  large- 
ness and  liberty  of  life.  Poverty,  or  the  lack  of 
money,  imposes  onerous  limitations,  denies  comforts 
and  conveniences,  curtails  enjoyments,  restricts  the 
exercise  of  capacity,  and  confines  life  within  narrow 
and  unattractive  limits. 

Yet,  a  study  of  the  conditions  of  the  poor  discloses 
many  compensative  features.  If  the  state  of  poverty 
is  not  too  galling,  the  poor  have  fewer  cares  and  less 
responsibilities  than  the  rich ;  their  lives  are  not  so 
much  taken  up  with  extraneous  interests,  and  their 

129 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

affections  are  centered  more  in  the  family  and  the 
home  life;  consequently  there  is  among  them  a 
stronger  bond  of  sympathy,  affection,  and  fellow  feel- 
ing— 

The  family  affection  with  the  poor 
Is  always  strong;  together  they  endure 
Adversities,  and  share  their  meagre  joys. 
Domestic  interest  their  thought  employs. 
Their  lot,  thus  circumscribed,  intensifies 
Their  sympathies,  and  strengthens  fam'ly  ties; 
Which,  in  a  measure,  tends  to  compensate 
The  dull  monotony  of  hapless  fate." 

Everything  is  operated  on  the  basis  of  money  prof- 
its. The  policy  with  farmers  is  to  till  their  lands  in 
crops  that  will  bring  the  largest  returns  in  money 
profits.  Merchants  buy  and  sell  for  money  profits; 
the  factories,  and  industries  of  every  kind  are  run 
for  money  profits.  To  better  secure  these  profits, 
modern  commercial  combines  have  been  formed,  leg- 
islation has  been  influenced  in  favor  of  privileged  in- 
terests with  its  consequent  demoralizing  effect  on  the 
national  character,  wages  have  been  reduced,  cost  of 
living  made  more,  cost  of  production  made  less,  the 
material  in  manufacture  often  counterfeited  or  cheap- 
ened by  adulteration;  even  food  products  adulterated 
by  cheaper  and  sometimes  deleterious  matter,  jeopar- 
dizing the  health  of  the  people.  It  was  that  which 
brought  about  the  "National  Pure  Food  Law." 

This  whole  system  of  money  profits,  in  its  logical 
analysis,  is  found  to  come  off  production  and  the  pro- 
ducer. There  is  a  great  deal  said  about  the  burdens 
of  the  consumer.  The  largest  number  of  consumers 
are  the  producers  themselves.  The  consumer  can 
only  consume  what  has  been  produced,  and  his  mone- 

130 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

tary  ability  to  purchase  was  derived  either  from  his 
own  labor  or  that  of  others.  Any  way  you  look  at 
it,  the  burden  of  *'money  profits"  falls  on  production 
and  the  producer.  When  public  improvements  are 
made,  value  of  property  is  enhanced,  and  taxes  are 
raised;  but  the  taxes  are  more  than  met  by  the 
charge  of  higher  rentals ;  so  it  is  the  laboring  man, 
the  producer,  who  pays  the  rentals  and  therefore  pays 
the  taxes. 

Public  expenses  of  taxation  are  either  met  by 
higher  rentals,  or  reduced  wages,  or  the  increased 
cost  of  living,  and  come  directly  off  the  producer. 
The  result  of  excessive  "money  profits"  above  the  nat- 
ural increase  of  production  is  finally  to  weaken  the 
sources  of  production,  and  to  impoverish  the  masses. 
The  moral  tone  of  society  is  corrupted,  national  and 
individual  character  and  standards  are  lowered,  na- 
tional strength  is  debilitated,  national  honor  is  lost, 
widespread  want  of  faith  and  confidence  is  felt,  dis- 
content and  strife  are  fomented,  jeopardizing  the  very 
autonomy  of  the  state ;  for  revolution  and  national 
dissolution  is  apt  to  follow. 

From  the  very  fact  that  money  adds  greatly  to  the 
exercise  of  capacity,  it  imposes  obligations  on  the 
possessor  which  cannot  be  lightly  regarded.  Every 
one  is  responsible  for  the  use  made  of  natural  facul- 
ties, both  physical  and  mental.  While  money  will 
not  buy  capacity,  it  removes  the  hindrances  from  the 
use  and  exercise  thereof,  and  the  man  of  money 
who  fails  to  make  the  best  use  of  his  natural  endow- 
ments, and  who  neglects  to  exercise  his  capacity  for 
doing  good  with  his  money,  is  doubly  censurable.  It 
is  quite  possible  for  a  man  with  money  to  fail  to  use 
it  either  for  his  own  welfare  or  the  welfare  of  others, 
but  it  is  impossible  for  him  to  escape  the  responsi- 
bility.   Money  is  unable  to  buy  the  moral  qualities  of 

131 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

character  and  happiness;  but  it  does  enable  its  pos- 
sessor, if  he  will,  to  do  things  that  may  adorn  his 
character,  and  to  buy  the  things  which  will  minister 
to  his  happiness. 

While  money  gives  to  a  man  social  prominence,  it 
puts  him  in  the  limelight  of  public  criticism,  where 
he  is  apt  to  incur  the  envy,  if  not  the  hatred  of  his 
fellow  men,  and  an  isolation  from  the  common  broth- 
erhood which  may  cause  him  to  look  upon  the  tenders 
of  love  and  friendship  as  promoted  by  selfish  motives. 
Whether  used  for  good  or  evil,  wisely  or  unwisely, 
money  is  an  instrument  of  great  power. 

The  class  denominated  as  "loan  sharks"  are  vultures 
who  prey  upon  the  necessities  of  the  unfortunate. 
Thousands  of  working  men  on  small  salaries  in  the 
cities  make  barely  enough  to  support  their  families 
by  practicing  the  most  rigid  economy,  and  it  is  prac- 
tically impossible  for  them  to  lay  up  anything  for  "a 
rainy  day."  When  sickness  or  misfortune  overtakes 
them,  or  their  families,  they  are  forced  either  to  ap- 
peal to  charity  or  ask  for  loans  on  their  salaries.  No 
self-respecting  man  will  appeal  to  charity  till  the  very 
last  extremity ;  hence  these  men  are  the  easy  victims 
of  the  "loan  sharks,"  who  put  attractive  advertise- 
ments in  the  newspapers,  which  read,  "Salaried  peo- 
ple advanced  money  on  their  own  names  without  se- 
curity, on  easy  payments — strictly  confidential,"  and 
other  like  enticing  forms. 

The  "loan  sharks"  charge  exorbitant  interest  rates, 
sometimes  as  much  as  800  per  cent.;  and  for  a  poor 
laboring  man  to  borrow  money  from  them  means  at 
the  least,  cruel  deprivation,  often  disaster,  sometimes 
moral  shipwreck  as  well.  It  is  true  that  some  of 
those  who  patronize  "loan  sharks"  do  so  to  get  money 
to  spend  in  gambling,  drinking,  licentiousness  and 
vice.     Men  sometimes  try  to  lead  double  lives.     In 

132 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

their  homes,  or  on  the  street  in  the  daytime,  they  will 
appear  moral  and  respectable;  but  when  screened  by 
the  curtains  of  darkness,  they  are  not  strangers  to 
dens  of  vice;  and  when  they  get  into  debt  through 
vices  secretly  practiced,  they  go  to  the  "loan  sharks" 
clandestinely  for  money  to  prevent  discovery  and  ex- 
posure— thinking  to  be  able  to  pay  it  back  secretly ; 
in  which  intention  they  often  fail,  and  then  comes 
upon  them  the  inevitable  discovery  and  consequent 
disgrace.  But  in  either  case  they  are  victims  of  cir- 
cumstances, and  the  "loan  sharks"  take  advantage  of 
their  misfortunes. 

While  society  is  perhaps  right  in  withholding  sym- 
pathy from  those  who  get  into  debt  through  vice,  the 
indifference  of  society  to  those  who  get  into  debt  un- 
avoidably on  account  of  sickness  or  misfortune, 
through  no  fault  of  their  own,  is  monstrous  and  inhu- 
man. Not  long  ago,  in  this  city,  a  poor  woman  died 
from  exposure  and  want  caused  by  the  forced  collec- 
tion of  a  chattle  mortgage  held  by  a  loan  shark.  Such 
instances  are  constantly  occurring,  though  but  few 
come  to  public  notice.  Society  remains  indifferent 
while  the  "loan  sharks"  ply  their  disreputable  trade. 
A  poor  laboring  man,  as  long  as  he  and  his  family 
have  health  and  make  wages  sufficient  to  live,  may 
enjoy  a  reasonable  degree  of  contentment;  for  men 
are  prone  to  look  forward  to  "a  better  day  coming" ; 
but  when  he  is  overtaken  by  sickness  or  misfortune, 
and  forced  to  go  into  debt,  thenceforward  his  life 
is  apt  to  become  weighted  with  the  hopeless  burden. 

The  "loan  sharks"  are  not  the  only  ones  who  vic- 
timize the  poor  and  the  unfortunate.  Merchants 
charge  more  for  their  goods  sold  on  credit;  doctors 
frequently  charge  unreasonably  and  extortionately 
for  their  professional  services;  and  if  a  man  fails  to 
pay  his  debts  he  loses  character  and  standing  in  the 

133 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

community;  his  family  shares  in  his  social  degrada- 
tion; his  children  are  denied  education  and  morally 
healthy  associations,  and  are  apt  to  grow  to  swell 
the  ranks  of  the  vicious  and  the  lawless. 

The  number  of  those  who  have  invested  their 
money  savings  in  corporate  securities  has  greatly  in- 
creased in  the  last  few  years;  thereby  increasing  the 
number  of  cliental  dependents  of  the  corporations. 
The  corporations  have  encouraged  this  investment 
with  two  objects  in  view ;  one  of  which  is  to  get  in- 
vestors' money,  and  the  other  is  to  fasten  the  cor- 
poration system  on  the  country.  If,  in  addition  to 
the  laboring  class,  whose  services  and  wages  they  con- 
trol— and  through  that  their  votes — they  can  enlist 
on  their  side  a  large  number  of  the  politically  in- 
fluential middle  class  by  inducing  them  to  invest  their 
money  savings  in  corporation  securities,  their  power 
for  influencing  legislation  will  be  immensely  aug- 
mented. 

This  investment  class  already  comprise  several  mil- 
lions of  citizens  whose  individual  investments  range 
from  one  hundred  dollars  to  ten  thousand  dollars. 
Owners  of  railroad  stocks  alone  have  increased  in 
the  last  four  years  from  350,000  to  500,000.  In  the 
various  big  corporations  there  are  now  more  than 
3,000,000  investors.  While  they  have  neither  voice 
nor  authority  in  the  management  of  those  corpora- 
tions, they  flatter  themselves  that  they  are  partners 
with  the  big  "captains  of  industry."  Twenty  million 
more  are  interested  in  corporate  enterprises  by  way 
of  trustees,  banks,  hospitals,  colleges,  insurance  com- 
panies, and  other  financial  institutions.  The  larger 
majority  of  the  last-mentioned  class  of  investors  have 
invested  in  life  insurance. 

The  causes  for  this  greatly  increased  investment  in 
corporation    securities   are    charged    in   part    to    the 

^  134 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

fall  of  other  securities,  and  industrial  and  commer- 
cial depression;  but  the  main  cause  is  that  in  the 
last  four  or  five  years  newspapers  and  magazines 
have  been  filled  with  attractive  articles  and  adver- 
tisements encouraging  such  investments.  The  ob- 
ject sought  for  is  an  effective  means  for  combating 
the  growing  sentiment  for  government  ownership  and 
control.  With  a  large  number  of  citizens  interested 
as  investors  in  corporations,  they  would  build  up,  in- 
deed, a  kind  of  social  organization,  but  one  under 
private  control;  controlled  not  for  the  benefit  of  the 
masses,  but  in  the  interest  of  a  favored  few.  Of 
course,  those  who  are  at  the  head  have  no  thought 
of  allowing  the  number  of  the  investors  or  the 
amounts  of  their  investments  to  have  any  influence  in 
the  management  or  division  of  profits. 

A  writer  in  American  Revietv  of  Reviezvs,  says  in 
the  December  number:  "Last  year  (that  is,  the  year 
of  1907),  many  law-making  bodies  were  trying  to 
bend  the  big  corporations  to  the  public  will  ...  in 
some  cases  with  danger  of  breaking  them.  At  this 
date,  however  (one  year  later),  there  are  many  signs 
that  whatever  regulation  takes  place  will  be  in  the 
investor's  behalf.  One  feature  is  the  rise  of  pro- 
tective societies,  such  as  the  American  Railroad  Em- 
ployees and  Investors'  Association.  Its  executive 
committee  is  composed  of  four  railroad  presidents 
and  the  heads  of  four  of  the  railway  brotherhoods, 
one  of  whom  is  P.  H.  Morrissey,  its  secretary.  Its 
object  is  to  secure  a  fair  return  alike  to  capital  and  la^ 
hor  inz'ested  in  American  railroads.  This  association 
is  not  to  take  part  in  controversies  hetzueen  railroad 
employees  and  officials,  hut  to  keep  a  sharp  eye  on 
legislation  zvhich  might  zvork  unjustly  to  the  railroad 
investor  and  laborer.  Perhaps  the  most  striking  evi- 
dence that  the  American  man  and  woman  are  more 

135 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

interested  than  ever  in  problems  of  personal  invest- 
ment is  given  by  several  of  the  standard  magazines. 
They  find  a  steady  response  from  their  readers  to 
the  regular  advertisement  news  printed  in  their  col- 
umns." 

"This  wholesome  investment  education,"  writes  H. 
D.  Robbins  in  "Trust  Companies,"  "has  already  had 
a  far-reaching  effect — benefiting  all  concerned." 

The  reader  will  please  note  that  the  "American 
Railroad  Employees  and  Investors'  Association"  is 
"not  to  take  part  in  controversies  between  railroad 
employees  and  oMcials/'  but  "are  to  keep  a  sharp  eye 
on  legislation"  They  seek  not  only  to  get  control  of 
the  investor's  money,  but  more  particularly  to  acquire 
through  cupidity  and  self-interest,  the  political  con- 
trol of  the  investor  himself.  They  are  not  to  have  any 
voice  in  the  management,  in  the  employment  or  dis- 
missal of  laborers  or  their  wages — they  are  simply 
"to  keep  a  sharp  eye  on  legislation,"  to  see  that  the 
popular  movement  for  governmental  ownership  or 
control  is  thwarted.  Of  all  the  schemes  invented  by 
the  corporations,  not  one  is  as  shrewd  as  this.  We 
have  no  doubt  that  the  "standard  magazines"  re- 
ferred to  are  well  paid  to  print  "the  regular  invest- 
ment news." 

It  is  possible  that  the  corporations  do  aim  to  bene- 
fit the  investors,  for  it  is  clearly  to  their  interest  to 
do  so;  but  what  about  that  much  larger  class  of  citi- 
zens, the  common  laborers  and  others,  who  are  not 
investors?  Their  despoliation  and  not  their  benefit  is 
sought. 

Money  is  able  to  secure  opportunities  to  those  who 
possess  it  that  are  denied  to  those  who  have  it  not. 
Chief  among  the  desirable  opportunities  which  money 
will  purchase  is  the  opportunity  to  spend  it  in  ob- 
jects and  works  of  philanthropy  for  the  moral  and 

136 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

material  benefit  of  mankind.  With  money,  you  can, 
if  you  will,  clothe  the  naked  and  feed  the  hungry; 
you  can  build  and  equip  hospitals,  and  employ  nurses 
and  physicians  to  care  for  the  indigent  sick;  you  can 
build  and  endow  schools  and  colleges,  employ  teach- 
ers, and  pay  the  tuition  and  expenses  of  poor  stu- 
dents. You  can  establish  public  libraries  and  stock 
them  with  books ;  you  can  give  practical  assistance  to 
every  means  adopted  for  the  physical,  moral,  and  in- 
tellectual uplift  of  your  fellow  men.  But  would  it 
not  be  better  that  these  charities  be  directed  and  sup- 
plied by  the  State  with  unfailing  certainty,  than  to 
leave  them  to  the  uncertain  chances  of  private  gener- 
osity ? 

The  doors  to  every  opportunity  in  life,  for  educa- 
tion, culture,  enjoyment,  power  and  influence,  are 
open  to  those  who  have  money  according  to  their 
capacity;  but  money  will  not  buy  intelligence  nor 
health.  It  will  furnish  the  means  for  an  education, 
but  it  will  not  buy  the  ability  to  learn.  It  will  pay  a 
doctor  to  treat  you  when  you  are  sick,  but  it  will  not 
purchase  a  healthy  constitution  nor  immunity  from 
disease.  Money,  while  it  is  able  to  surround  one  with 
comforts,  the  means  for  self-improvement,  refinement, 
and  the  ability  to  help  the  less  fortunate,  it  is  too 
often  the  case  that  beneficence  and  the  means  and 
capacity  to  bestow  it,  rarely  go  together.  Money  will 
buy  many  things  which  minister  to  happiness,  but 
happiness  it  will  not  buy.  It  will  buy  things,  but  not 
character;  but  character  is  affected  by  it  either  for 
good  or  evil.  The  joy  of  life,  and  the  largeness  and 
fullness  of  life,  depend  not  so  much  on  the  possession 
of  money  as  on  the  character  of  the  possessor. 

The  monied  aristocracy  of  the  country  recognize  as 
the  greatest  menace  to  intrenched  wealth  the  doctrine 
that  all  men  are  brothers.    The  press,  public  teachers, 

137 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  judiciary,  every  public  agency,  is  enlisted  to  de- 
clare it  a  monstrous  doctrine,  anarchistic  in  concep- 
tion, and  subversive  of  government.  Of  course  they 
do  not  characterize  it  as  universal  brotherhood — they 
employ  for  their  use  other  titles — ^and  resort  to  false 
representation.  They  claim  with  their  mouths  to 
believe  in  the  brotherhood  of  men;  but  deny  with 
their  deeds  what  their  lips  affirm.  What  they  are 
afraid  of  is  a  brotherhood  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name, 
that  men  are  made  of  one  blood,  having  Hke  interests 
and  a  common  destiny ;  that  the  welfare  of  one  mem- 
ber of  society  is  the  brotherly  concern  of  all,  and  that 
all  war,  and  strife,  and  hatred  should  cease ;  that  the 
things  of  common  need  should  be  owned  and  used  in 
common  for  the  common  good,  not  for  private  profit ; 
that  the  communal  necessities  of  life  should  be  as  ac- 
cessible to  all  as  the  free  air  of  heaven.  This  is  the 
monstrous  doctrine  that  men  and  devils  are  employ- 
ing the  machinations  of  hell  to  prevent. 

Under  the  present  system,  necessity  is  made  the 
excuse  of  greed.  Individualism  is  carried  to  the  ex- 
treme, and  no  one  is  his  "brother's  keeper."  The  im- 
plements of  industry,  the  capital  on  which  production 
is  based,  the  money  for  the  employment  of  labor,  are 
owned  and  controlled  by  a  few  private  individuals  to 
the  public  detriment,  when  they  should  be  owned  and 
controlled  by  the  community,  in  governmentally  as- 
serted authority,  for  the  common  good. 

The  wages  paid  to  laboring  men  in  money  determine 
what  part  of  the  products  of  their  toil  they  shall  be 
permitted  to  consume  and  enjoy.  It  has  been  truth- 
fully asserted  that  "there  is  no  such  thing  as  over- 
production." What  is  miscalled  over-production  is  in 
reality  under-consumption.  If  the  laboring  classes 
were  paid  higher  wages,  they  could  consume  more, 
enjoy  more  of  the  comforts  of  good  living,  and  a 

138 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

more  equitable  share  of  what  their  labor  produces. 
The  annual  products  of  the  United  States  amount  to 
about  four  billion  dollars.  The  labor  that  produces 
this  is  paid  about  two  billion  dollars.  Consequently, 
the  laborers  who  number  fifty  to  one  of  the  idle  rich 
can  consume  less  than  half  of  the  production. 

In  the  scheme  of  money  profits  to  the  employers, 
wages  are  reduced  to  the  minimum,  and  as  the  vari- 
ous products  of  industry  pass  through  the  hands  of 
middlemen,  or  merchants,  who  must  also  make  a 
money  profit  off  the  consumer,  the  result  is  that  the 
laboring  classes,  who  pay  it  all,  in  the  end,  are  able 
to  consume  about  one-fourth  of  what  their  labor 
produces.  The  money  paid  for  that  which  they  do 
consume  goes  right  back  to  their  employers,  and  the 
same  struggle  for  bare  subsistence  is  year  after  year 
repeated. 

The  number  of  producers,  as  compared  to  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  own  and  control  the  implements  of 
production,  is  about  as  fifty  to  one.  And  as  the 
producers,  as  a  whole,  get  about  one-fourth  of  the 
production,  it  follows  that  each  individual  producer 
gets  about  the  two-hundredth  part  of  what  he  pro- 
duces. Is  that  right?  Can  any  argument  be  adduced 
to  justify  it?  It  is  evident  that  if  just  wages  were 
paid  to  laborers,  consumption  would  always  keep  pace 
with  production. 

While  production  in  America  appears  colossal — and 
there  is  a  sufficiency  produced  for  the  comfort  and 
well-being  of  every  one — the  fact  is,  production  in 
the  United  States  is  only  a  fraction  of  what  it  might 
be  made.  Suppose  the  vast  untilled  wastes  of  land 
were  put  into  cultivation ;  the  unused  water  power 
employed,  and  manufacturing  advanced  commensur- 
ately,  and  that  this  vastly  increased  production  was 
equitably  distributed  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  all, 

139 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

what  a  prosperous  and  happy  country  we  would  have. 
Money  is  the  means  for  the  distribution  of  wealth, 
and  money  received  as  wages  is  the  only  way  for 
the  laboring  man  to  get  his  just  share  of  production. 
The  idea  is  not  to  adjust  production  to  consumption, 
but  to  adjust  consumption  to  production;  which  can 
be  done  only  by  eliminating  the  unjust  policy  of 
money  profits,  and  by  the  payment  of  higher  wages 
to  laborers. 

CHAPTER  XH 

MONEY     KINGS. 

.  Men  are  no  longer  ruled  by  brutish  force  as  once 
they  were  by  mediaeval  despots ;  but  they  are  ruled 
none  the  less  effectually  through  wages  and  cost  of 
living,  by  the  money  kings  of  the  present  day.  The 
modern  money  kings  have  learned  a  most  refined 
and  scientific  way  for  making  the  people  subject  to 
their  authority — they  simply  rule  through  the  power 
of  money;  and  while  the  people  no  longer  slave  for 
a  little  food  and  shelter  that  they  may  be  protected 
from  the  murderous  invasions  of  neighboring  tribes  by 
the  weapons  of  war,  nevertheless,  they  still  slave  that 
they  may  get  some  of  "the  crumbs  which  fall  from 
the  rich  man's  table." 

The  modern  money  king  has  no  regard  for  the  land, 
or  those  who  till  it.  His  one  concern  is  to  control 
the  marketing  of  the  crops.  He  controls  men  only  by 
controlling  the  products  of  their  land  and  their  toil. 
He  has  no  concern  for  the  toiler's  physical  well-being 
or  his  morals.  He  charges  all  those  things  to  the 
province  and  care  of  government,  but  sees  to  it  that 
the  government  does  nothing  for  them  that  might  in- 
terfere with  what  he  calls  his  "vested  rights."     The 

140 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

people  pay  tribute  to  a  money  king  on  everything 
they  eat,  drink,  or  wear;  and  yet  they  are  duped  into 
beHeving  that  they  are  free,  and  that  they  live  in  a 
free  country.  By  the  power  of  his  money,  the  money 
king  controls  legislators  and  judges,  and  hires  the 
most  astute  lawyers  to  be  his  servants. 

The  most  powerful  of  the  money  kings,  while  they 
work  in  harmony  with  each  other,  have  carefully  de- 
fined limits  to  their  particular  domains  by  confining 
their  rule  to  specific  products.  King  Armour,  for  in- 
stance, controls  meats,  grain  and  fertilizers;  King 
Morgan  controls  banking,  iron  and  steel.  Andrew 
Carnegie  established  the  iron  and  steel  kingdom,  and 
sold  it  to  J.  P.  Morgan,  who  acquired  enough  money 
from  the  people  by  stock-watering  methods  to  make 
the  purchase.  King  Rockefeller  controls  petroleum 
and  its  products;  King  Harriman*  and  King  Hill 
jointly  control  the  railway  systems  of  the  country. 

♦The  above  observation  on  money  kings  was  written 
early  in  1908,  when  Mr.  E.  H.  Harriman  was  in  the  zenith 
of  his  power.  Recently  he  paid  the  debt  of  nature,  which 
removed  him  forever  from  the  scene  of  mundane  activi- 
ties, like  all  who  come  into  the  world,  rich  or  poor,  high 
or  low. 

It  is  the  disposition  of  the  American  people  to  charit- 
ably forget  the  faults  of  a  man  after  he  is  dead.  Simply 
as  to  the  man,  and  his  acts,  which  affected  only  himself, 
this  is  a  commendable  virtue;  but  his  public  acts,  which 
affected  the  welfare  of  society,  remain  legitimate  subjects 
for  criticism  after  his  death.  Not  to  do  so,  would  en- 
courage others  to  follow  examples  hurtful  to  the  public, 
and  permit  serious  errors  to  go  uncorrected. 

Apparently,  an  alliance  was  formed  between  the  Harri- 
man, Morgan,  and  Rockefeller  kingdoms  prior  to  Mr. 
Harriman's  death;  and  since  his  demise,  one  Judge  Lov- 
ett  has  been  appointed  king-regent  to  govern  during  the 
business  minority  of  the  younger  Harriman  until  he  shall 
be  deemed  qualified  to  reign  over  his  own. 

"The  king  is  dead!     Long  live  the  king!" 

141 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

Every  one  who  sells  a  bushel  of  grain,  or  buys  a 
sack  of  fertilizer  or  a  pound  of  meat,  pays  tribute  to 
King  Armour;  every  one  who  buys  a  piece  of  iron 
or  steel,  if  it  is  only  a  pound  of  nails,  pays  tribute  to 
King  Morgan;  every  one  who  uses  petroleum  or  any 
of  its  products,  pays  tribute  to  King  Rockefeller.  By 
stock-watering,  the  railroads  are  capitalized  at  several 
times  their  actual  cost  and  intrinsic  worth;  but  the 
people  are  expected  to  pay  dividends  on  the  full 
amount,  and  every  one  who  rides  over  a  railroad  or 
ships  any  product  over  it,  pays  tribute  to  King  Harri- 
man,  or  King  Hill,  or  some  other  railroad  king. 

The  people,  instead  of  having  one  king  to  support 
in  princely  luxury  and  more  than  mediaeval  splendor, 
have  a  number  of  them. 

King  Armour,  the  meat  king,  deals  in  meat  to  the 
extent  of  $225,000,000  annually. 

He  has  $100,000,000  invested  in  buildings  and  ma- 
chinery for  killing,  dressing,  packing  and  shipping 
meats.  He  has  a  half-dozen  great  slaughter  houses 
and  stock-yards,  the  principal  one  of  which  is  located 
in  Chicago,  Illinois.  He  butchers  about  nine  million 
animals  every  year. 

Mediaeval  kings  were  territorial  kings,  and  were 
constantly  engaged  in  wars  in  the  effort  to  extend  or 
to  hold  their  territorial  domains;  but  our  modern 
money  kings  care  nothing  for  land ;  they  control  only 
some  certain  commodities  of  production  or  manufac- 
ture, not  by  force  of  arms  or  military  prowess,  but 
by  the  power  of  money.  King  Armour  is  the  great- 
est butcher  in  the  world;  also  the  greatest  dealer  in 
grain.  He  controls  grain  that  he  may  the  more  com- 
pletely and  easily  control  meat.  His  mammoth  grain 
elevators  are  located  everywhere  in  the  great  wheat- 
growing  sections  of  the  West  and  Northwest.  He 
buys  annually  and  handles  more  than  forty  million 

142 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

bushels  of  grain.  He  levies  a  revenue  from  the 
fruit-growing  industry  of  the  country  by  his  trains 
of  refrigerator  cars  that  run  on  every  railroad  in  the 
United  States.  The  meat  and  fruit  products  hauled 
in  his  refrigerator  cars  amount  annually  to  about 
ninety-eight  thousand  carloads. 

The  farmers  of  the  country  are  particularly  the  sub- 
jects of  King  Armour;  for  whatever  they  grow  or 
raise  on  the  farm  has  to  go  to  Armour's.  He  makes 
the  price  on  the  farmer's  grain  and  cattle,  and  in 
addition  makes  them  pay  a  big  toll  for  the  use  of  his 
cars. 

Republics  have  taken  the  place  of  monarchies,  con- 
stitutional government  the  place  of  absolutism;  but 
still,  after  all  the  struggles  for  liberty  by  the  people 
in  the  generations  that  are  past,  even  in  republics, 
money  kings  rule,  establish  their  dominions,  and  leave 
them  to  their  children.  When  primogeniture  was  ab- 
rogated, it  was  contended  that  the  sons  of  the  rich 
would  dissipate  the  accumulations  of  their  sires;  but 
the  fact  is  they  do  so  no  longer.  J.  Ogden  Armour 
has  doubled  the  kingdom  left  to  him  by  his  father, 
P.  D.  Armour.  In  the  year  1832,  when  P.  D.  Armour 
was  born,  the  appropriation  made  by  Congress  was 
$10,057,669.89.  To-day  the  annual  budget  of  P.  D. 
Armour's  son  is  twenty  times  that  amount;  or,  in 
other  words,  his  present  annual  budget  is  equal  to 
one-half  the  annual  budget  of  the  United  States. 

He  has  in  his  main  office  in  Chicago  alone,  twelve 
hundred  men.  They  include  a  staff  of  architects, 
chemists,  a  legal  department  of  nine  lawyers  working 
under  an  efficient  head,  buyers,  sellers,  etc.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  Chicago  house,  he  has  two  hundred  and 
ninety  branch  houses  in  the  United  States,  seventeen 
in  England,  five  in  South  Africa,  one  in  Cuba,  one  in 
Panama,  and  three  in  Continental  Europe.     He  has 

143 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

further  fastened  his  hold  on  the  farmers  by  securing 
the  control  of  the  fertilizer  trade  in  the  United  States, 
so  that  when  a  farmer  buys  fertilizers  to  stimulate  his 
soil,  he  lias  to  pay  tribute  to  Armour. 

The  common  shipper  cannot  own  his  own  cars. 
Private  car  ownership  is  the  exclusive  privilege  of  the 
monied  royalty.  Railroads  would  hardly  dare  handle 
the  business  of  the  common  man  for  fear  of  offending 
the  money  kings,  who  own  and  control  the  private 
car  lines.  When  a  farmer  ships  a  crate  of  fruit  he  is 
at  the  mercy  of  King  Armour,  who  owns  the  refriger- 
ator car  in  which  it  has  to  be  shipped.  The  case  is 
different  when  he  sends  a  letter,  which  is  carried  at 
actual  cost,  because  the  mail  car  line  belongs  to  the 
government — the  people.  Ownership  of  private  car 
lines  gives  to  their  owners  the  power  of  discrimina- 
tion, and  an  undue  advantage  of  the  shipper.  It 
gives  them  a  monopoly  for  forcing  extortion  from  the 
railroads  as  well  as  the  public,  the  independent  ship- 
per; it  gives  them  a  great  power  which  they  have 
tyrannously  employed. 

When  rebates  were  allowed,  Armour  got  rebates 
from  the  railroad  companies,  which  gave  him  an  enor- 
mous advantage  over  independent  shippers.  Direct  re- 
bates are  not  allowed  now  by  law ;  but  King  Armour 
and  the  others  get  mileage  on  their  cars  just  the  same, 
which  can  easily  be  made  equivalent  to  rebates,  and 
the  law  against  rebates  is  thereby  successfully  evaded. 
Whenever  Armour  sends  out  one  of  his  private  cars, 
the  railroads  not  only  pay  him  rent  one  way  for  the 
loaded  car,  they  pay  him  rent  on  it  empty  on  its  re- 
turn. "Armour,  Rockefeller,  and  the  other  money 
kings  get  twenty-five  per  cent,  or  more  a  year  from 
the  railroads  for  the  use  of  their  cars ;  a  sum  which 
would  in  four  years  build  a  like  number  of  the  same 
kind  of  cars." 

144 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

The  child  born  in  the  shims,  half-fed,  half-clothed, 
viciously  environed  with  squalor  and  ignorance,  is 
made  to  feel  the  cruel  weight  of  discrimination  and 
unequal  opportunity  when  he  comes  to  compete  with 
the  child  comfortably  born,  well  fed,  well  dressed,  and 
well  educated.  The  whole  of  his  life's  struggle  is 
made  against  discrimination  and  unequal  opportunity. 

Recently,  when  Upton  Sinclair  brought  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  public  the  unsanitary  conditions  exist- 
ing in  Armour's  great  slaughtering  and  packing- 
houses, and  told  how  men  and  women  suffering  with 
tuberculosis  handled  the  meat  in  the  packing  and 
preparation  for  markets ;  how  many  of  the  animals 
slaughtered  had  the  same  disease,  how  the  men  and 
women  who  were  employed  were  brutalized  by  drink 
and  poverty,  and  the  character  of  their  work  and 
surroundings,  a  mighty  protest  of  the  people,  led  by 
President  Roosevelt,  demanded  instant  reform;  and 
the  Congress  was  forced  by  the  insistence  of  the  de- 
mand to  pass  a  "pure  food  law,"  requiring  thorough 
inspection  of  animals  and  meats,  by  government  in- 
spectors. 

Armour's  methods  of  packing  meats  being  thus  at- 
tacked by  the  highest  officials  in  the  government,  he 
very  naturally  lost  his  European  customers.  It  cost 
Armour  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  in  lost  Euro- 
pean trade ;  but  he  promptly  transferred  that  loss  on 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  What  else  would 
you  expect  a  king  to  do  ?  It  has  always  been  the  prac- 
tice of  kings  to  punish  their  rebellious  subjects,  and 
King  Armour  is  punishing  his  subjects  for  their  re- 
bellion by  higher  meat  prices.  He  will  see  to  it  that 
the  People  of  the  United  States  pay  in  full  to  him 
the  losses  that  he  sustained  in  the  ruin  of  his  European 
trade.  What  cares  he  for  government  inspection? 
The  use  of  a  little  money  will  fix  that  all  right ;  as  to 

145 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

the  people,  he  is  forcing  them  to  foot  the  bill  by  an 
increased  tribute. 

Money  enables  one  to  travel,  and  to  take  periods  of 
rest  from  labor  and  business  cares ;  often  essential  to 
health  and  life.  The  traveler  forgets  in  the  novelty 
of  new  scenes,  the  worry  and  cares  of  business  and 
toil.  For  tired,  worn-out  bodies,  there  is  no  elixir 
like  just  simple  rest.  Rest  for  the  mind  as  well  as  the 
body.  To  get  off  into  the  mountains,  or  on  the  sea 
shore,  and  breathe  the  pure  air,  away  from  all  labor 
and  vexatious  annoyances ;  but  this  is  only  possible  for 
those  who  have  money. 

The  desire  for  money  profits  has  corrupted  litera- 
ture and  degraded  art.  Both  writers  and  artists,  for 
the  sake  of  money,  pander  to  a  depraved,  immoral 
public  taste;  for  which  reason  we  have  the  blase  in 
literature,  and  the  nude,  libidinously  suggestive,  in 
art.  Even  the  picture  post-cards,  allowed  primarily 
by  the  government  to  increase  the  postal  revenues, 
have  been  degraded  into  an  obscene  and  salacious  use. 

The  money-changers — once  scourged  from  the 
Temple — immediately  returned.  Rented  pews,  labeled 
on  the  ends  with  the  names  of  the  renters,  put  a 
money  price  on  the  worship  of  God. 


CHAPTER  Xni. 

EARLY  HISTORY  OF  MONEY. 

Primitive  transactions  were  simply  barter — the  ex- 
change of  one  commodity  for  another,  as  the  giving  of 
a  sheep  for  a  measure  of  corn. 

As  the  variety  and  multiplicity  of  transactions  in- 
creased, the  exchange  of  commodities  became  cum- 

146 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

brous,  and  certain  symbols,  representing  values,  began 
to  be  used,  both  as  matter  of  convenience  and  to  facili- 
tate exchanges,  constituting  a  circulating  medium 
which  marks  the  advance  in  civilization. 

Cattle  appear  from  history  to  have  been  the  most 
general  medium  of  exchange  just  ante-dating  the  use 
of  money  symbols.  At  the  time  of  the  Siege  of  Troy, 
the  expenses  for  uniforms  and  weapons  for  the  sol- 
diers and  officers  were  paid  in  cattle.  The  English 
word  ''pecuniary"  is  derived  from  the  Latin  word 
"pecus,"  meaning  cattle.  In  different  countries  and 
times,  cattle,  hides,  furs,  ivory,  beads,  various  other 
commodities,  and  in  some  countries  even  scraps  of 
iron  and  nails,  have  been  used  as  mediums  of  ex- 
change. 

The  use  of  coined  money  cannot  be  historically 
traced  farther  back  than  the  ninth  century  B.  C.  The 
earliest  metallic  money  was  in  forms  of  bars,  and 
spikes,  and  rings.  The  ring  money  could  be  opened 
or  closed,  or  linked  in  a  chain  for  convenience  in  car- 
rying. The  Lydians  are  thought  to  have  been  the 
first  people  who  used  genuinely  coined  money,  about 
seven  hundred  or  eight  hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  Era;  and  their  example  was  soon  after- 
wards followed  by  the  states  of  Greece — the  earliest 
Greek  coins  being  those  of  Aegina. 

The  process  of  coining  money,  in  the  beginning, 
consisted  in  placing  a  globular  form  of  metal  over  a 
disc,  on  which  was  engraved  the  religious  or  national 
symbol  to  be  impressed.  A  wedge  or  punch,  placed 
at  the  back  of  the  metal,  was  held  steadily  with  one 
hand,  and  struck  by  a  hammer  with  the  other  until 
the  metal  was  sufficiently  fixed  in  the  die  to  receive 
a  good  impression.  The  impression  was  not  a  guar- 
antee of  weight,  but  attested  the  royal  authority  that 
made  it  money.    The  matter  of  coinage  was  in  the  be- 

147 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ginning  a  sovereign  prerogative,  exercised  only  by  the 
state,  and  the  stamp  on  the  coins  was  the  fiat  of  kingly 
authority,  establishing  their  measure  of  value. 

From  the  nature  of  the  crude  process,  the  earliest 
coins  had  a  lumpish  appearance,  and  on  their  reverse 
was  a  rough,  irregular,  hollow  square,  corresponding 
with  a  similar  square  on  the  punch,  devised  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  the  coin  steady  when  struck  by 
the  coining  hammer.  The  original  coins  of  Asia  Mi- 
nor were  of  gold,  those  of  Greece,  of  silver.  The  earl- 
iest coins  bear  emblems  of  a  sacred  character,  often 
embodying  some  legend  regarding  the  foundation  of 
the  state,  as  the  phoca,  or  seal,  on  the  coins  of  the  Pho- 
cians,  which  allude  to  the  shoal  of  seals  which  are 
said  to  have  followed  the  fleet  during  the  emigration 
of  the  people. 

The  coins  of  Miletus,  in  Ionia,  have  the  head  of  a 
Hon  stamped  on  them.  This  symbol  was  derived  from 
Persia  and  Assyria,  and  was  associated  with  the  wor- 
ship of  Cybele.  Types  of  this  kind  were  succeeded 
by  portraits  of  protecting  deities.  The  earliest  coins  of 
Athens  have  the  owl,  as  type  of  the  goddess  Athene; 
at  a  later  period  the  goddess  herself  takes  its  place — 
the  owl  afterward  appearing  on  the  reverse. 

The  so-called  Republican,  or  earliest  coinage  of 
Rome,  began  at  an  early  period  of  Roman  history, 
and  continued  till  about  80  B.  C.  Its  standard  metal 
was  bronze,  an  alloyed  copper.  The  standard  unit  of 
the  coinage  was  a  pound  weight  of  bronze,  divided 
into  twelve  ounces.  The  pound  of  bronze  received  a 
state  impress  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Servius  Tullius, 
578  B.  C.  This  gigantic  piece  was  shaped  like  a  brick, 
and  stamped  with  the  representation  of  an  ox  or  a 
sheep,  the  value  of  which  they  represented.  The  full 
pound  was  successively  reduced,  always  retaining  the 
uncial  divisions,  till  its  actual  weight  came  to  be  no 

148 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

more  than  a  quarter  of  an  ounce.  About  the  time 
the  first  pound  weight  was  reduced  to  nine  ounces, 
they  began  to  be  cast  in  a  circular  form,  and  exhibited 
on  the  reverse  side  the  prow  of  a  ship,  and  on  the 
obverse  the  Janus  biforms;  the  numeral  "i"  on  the  re- 
verse side. 

Silver  was  first  coined  in  Rome  about  281  B.  C. ; 
the  earliest  gold  coinage  about  90  B.  C.  The  family- 
coins  began  about  170  B.  C.  Those  families  who  oc- 
casionally held  office  connected  with  the  public  mint 
acquired  the  right  first  to  have  their  names  inscribed 
on  the  coin,  afterwards  to  introduce  symbols  of  events 
in  their  own  history.  These  types  gradually  super- 
seded the  national  ones,  the  portraits  of  ancestors  fol- 
lowed, then  last  and  finally,  the  portrait  of  a  living 
citizen,  Julius  Csesar.  It  is  thus  that  national  tradi- 
tions, so  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  national 
spirit,  are  sacrificed  and  lost,  to  gratify  the  vanity  of 
ambitious  individuals. 

Under  the  Caesars,  gold  and  silver  coins  became  the 
standard  of  money,  and  a  ratio  between  the  two  metals 
was  first  established.  The  Bimetallic  System,  at  the 
ratio  of  twelve  to  one  was  established  by  Caesar  about 
48  B.  C,  and  continued  till  1204  A.  D.,  nearly  thirteen 
centuries.  Under  Augustus,  Constantine,  Justinian, 
and  the  other  sovereign  pontiffs,  there  was  but  one  ra- 
tio and  one  system  which  was  unbrokenly  maintained ; 
and  this,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  surrounding 
states,  India,  Persia,  Arabia,  Moslem-Spain,  the  Eng- 
lish Heptarchy,  Friesland,  Saxony,  and  Ethopia,  main- 
tained entirely  different  monetary  systems  based  on 
widely  different  ratios  between  the  same  precious 
metals. 

The  Roman  ratio  of  twelve  to  one  was  simply  main- 
tained by  the  fiat  of  government.  It  was  not  intrinsic 
worth  that  made  the  Roman  coin  money;  it  was  th? 

149 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

government  stamp,  "the  image  of  Caesar."  The  mis- 
take that  Rome  made  was  in  adopting  the  numulary 
system  of  Greece,  the  principle  that  money  could  be 
made  only  of  the  precious  metals.  Gold  and  silver 
became  the  tusks  of  the  dragon.  Hence  the  necessity 
for  wars  of  conquest  that  they  might  increase  their 
stock  of  gold  and  silver. 

There  was  practically  no  change  in  the  ancient 
theory  and  use  of  money  till  the  fifteenth  century. 
The  principle  that  money  is  so  much  metal  stamped  by 
the  state,  and  that  it  owes  its  value  to  the  kind  and  the 
amount  of  material  of  which  coins  are  made,  is  traced 
back  to  the  Black  Acts  of  James  HI.  of  Scotland,  in 
A.  D.   1467. 

By  Act  of  Parliament  in  England,  in  1666,  money 
was  destroyed  as  a  public  measure,  and  reduced  to  a 
commodity  basis  by  requiring  so  many  grains  and 
ounces  of  a  certain  fineness,  and  surrendering  its  regu- 
lation to  private  hands.  This  is  what  is  called  ''pri- 
vate" or  "free  coinage."  The  theory  of  money  as  thus 
corrupted  has  since  obtained  universal  acceptance;  the 
same  theory  is  to-day  called  "sound  money."  The  sys- 
tem was  conceived  by  money-lenders,  a  class  who,  pre- 
vious to  the  year  1666,  when  the  states  controlled  the 
prerogative  of  money,  were  comparatively  poor  and 
humble.  Bankers  and  goldsmiths  then  waited  upon 
their  noble  patrons  in  person,  and  obsequiously  solic- 
ited favors ;  but  when  the  royal  voluptuary.  King 
Charles  of  England,  surrendered  to  them  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  crown,  they  changed  from  fawning  syco- 
phants to  domineering  masters,  and  through  adroit 
legislation  and  court  manipulation,  fastened  the  new 
monetary  system  on  all  the  governments  of  the  world. 
This  was  the  sowing  of  the  tusks  of  the  dragon. 

Notwithstanding  their  number  is  numerically  small, 
to-day,  instead  of  being  the  obsequious  servants  of 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

royalty,  they  probably  own  more  than  half  of  the  gar- 
nered wealth  of  the  civilized  world.  They  are  the 
creditors  of  the  nobility  and  of  the  state;  the  great, 
struggling,  toiling  millions  of  the  community  are  their 
money-driven  slaves ;  their  retainers  have  place  in 
every  department  of  government,  every  avenue  of 
profit,  every  source  of  influence,  whereby  they  are 
able  to  dominate  the  commercial  world,  and  their  great 
power  threatens  the  peace  and  autonomy  of  states. 

Though  they  have  wielded  the  tremendous  powers 
in  the  control  of  money  with  such  inadequate  percep- 
tion of  the  equities  and  consequences  involved,  with 
such  lack  of  scientific  or  financial  skill,  and  in  so  nar- 
row and  selfish  a  spirit,  that  they  have  repeatedly 
plunged  the  commercial  world  into  bankruptcy  by  in- 
equitably confiscating  to  themselves  the  accumulated 
earnings  of  trade  and  production,  either  for  their  own 
selfish  benefit  or  to  save  themselves  from  the  effects 
of  their  own  blundering,  still  they  are  looked  up  to  as 
solons  of  finance;  and  the  monetary  commissions 
which  have  from  time  to  time  been  appointed  were 
principally  composed  of  their  representatives,  not- 
withstanding the  known  bias  of  their  selfish  interests, 
their  continual  ill-management,  blundering  and  contra- 
dictions of  each  other ;  all  of  which  demonstrates  that 
they  are  less  competent  to  regulate  money  than  the 
representatives  of  the  people,  whose  patriotism  should 
direct  them  in  safer  channels,  to  secure  the  stability  of 
money  and  its  equitable  distribution. 

Pliny  termed  "private  coinage,"  "The  crime  against 
mankind."  Such  was,  and  such  is  the  system  which 
we  borrowed  from  the  Old  World  and  sowed  it,  with 
the  other  dragon's  teeth,  to  absorb  the  production  of 
our  country.  It  is  a  system  which  turned  loose  upon 
the  world  a  Pandora's  box  of  evils  which  every  gov- 
ernment has  vainly  endeavored  to  correct.    The  money 

151 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

question  is  the  paramount  question  of  all  questions  in 
every  government  on  the  earth  to-day.  In  our  own 
country,  nearly  every  presidential  administration  has 
had  something  to  do  with  the  money  question,  and  still 
it  remains  unsettled. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  American  colonies  which 
afterwards  united  under  the  federal  constitution  to 
form  the  United  States,  various  commodities,  on  ac- 
count of  the  lack  of  money,  were  used  as  a  medium 
of  exchange :  tobacco  in  Maryland  and  Virginia ;  furs 
of  animals,  notably  the  beaver,  along  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  in  the  territory  contiguous  to  the  Great 
Lakes ;  coon  skins,  beaver  skins,  and  many  other  com- 
modities, in  some  instances,  made  legal  tender  by  law, 
when  they  took  on  the  correct  aspect  of  money.  Cows 
were  at  one  time  receivable  for  taxes  in  Massachusetts. 
There  was  very  little  money  in  the  country.  What  was 
in  circulation  was  mostly  the  Spanish  milled  dollars, 
and  most  of  it  was  in  the  southern  colonies,  because 
contiguous  to  Spanish  territory. 

During  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  financial  condi- 
tion of  the  colonies  was  most  distressing.  Up  to  the 
year  1779,  the  Continental  Congress  had  issued  bills 
of  credit,  known  as  continental  money,  amounting  all 
together  to  $200,000,000 ;  and  the  people  had  so  little 
confidence  in  their  final  redemption  that  by  the  end  of 
the  same  year  they  had  depreciated  to  sixty  for  one. 
With  such  a  currency,  it  was  hardly  possible  to  carry 
on  the  war.  Some  of  the  unpaid  soldiers  mutinied, 
and  were  only  induced  to  obedience  by  the  vigorous 
measures  of  General  Washington.  The  effect  of  this 
was  to  bestir  the  Continental  Congress  to  extraordi- 
nary efforts  to  adopt  some  efficient  means  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  army.  Direct  taxation  was  resorted  to, 
money  was  obtained  from  abroad,  and  a  national  bank 
was  established  at  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,    Robert 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Morrison,  a  wealthy  citizen,  who  had  given  liberally  of 
his  own  means  for  the  conduct  of  the  war,  thus  prov- 
ing his  unselfish  patriotism,  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  treasury,  and  by  his  able  and  timely  exertions, 
greatly  contributed  to  the  final  success  of  the  revolu- 
tion. But  notwithstanding  these  supreme  efforts,  at 
the  close  of  the  war  in  1782-83,  the  treasury  was 
bankrupt,  commerce  was  destroyed,  business  lan- 
guished from  neglect,  and  the  army  remained  unpaid. 
The  individual  states  were  unable  or  unwilling  to  tax 
themselves  to  pay  the  national  debt,  and,  as  yet,  the 
Congress  was  powerless  to  adopt  proper  measures  for 
relief,  because  there  was  no  federal  constitution  de- 
fining its  powers. 

Through  the  influence  of  General  Washington  the 
Congress  paid  to  officers  five  years'  full  pay  in  gross, 
instead  of  half  pay  for  life,  as  had  been  provided  for 
by  resolution  passed  in  1780,  and  the  privates  received 
four  months'  full  pay  as  an  installment  of  their  claim. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OUR  NATIONAL  MONETARY  HISTORY. 

Most  of  the  thirteen  states  had  agreed  upon  Articles 
of  Confederation  during  the  war ;  but  five  years  elapsed 
before  all  the  states  gave  their  consent.  When  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  were  finally  ratified  in  July, 
1 78 1,  it  was  discovered  that  they  had  practically  con- 
ferred but  little  power  on  the  Congress ;  consequently 
the  public  creditors  remained  unpaid ;  for  the  Congress 
had  no  money  and  no  authority  to  levy  taxes.  Its  ad- 
vice to  the  states  to  pay  was  unheeded  or  denied. 
When  a  peace  was  conquered,  matters  grew  worse, 

153 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

and  the  embarrassment  became  so  great  that  it  was  a 
matter  of  grave  doubt  whether  the  new-born  republic 
would  long  survive. 

The  most  bitter  jealousies  and  political  antagonisms 
existed  between  different  states,  which  greatly  inter- 
fered with  commercial  relations,  and  the  independent 
or  adverse  measures  separately  enacted  by  their  legis- 
latures impeded  business  relations  among  themselves. 
The  only  thing  that  the  states  seemed  to  fully  agree 
on  was  to  give  the  Congress  as  little  power  as  possible. 
The  power  to  levy  taxes  is  one  of  the  fundamentally 
essential  prerogatives  of  government ;  but  they  were 
especially  averse  to  giving  the  Congress  that  authority, 
for  the  reason  that  they  thought  that  to  do  so  would 
jeopardize  their  hard-won  liberties.  Indeed,  the  peo- 
ple were  not  willing  to  submit  to  taxation,  even  when 
imposed  by  state  authority. 

When  Massachusetts  attempted,  in  accordance  with 
the  wishes  of  the  Congress,  to  contribute  its  share 
toward  the  payment  of  the  public  debt  and  the  sup- 
port of  the  national  credit,  the  popular  dissatisfaction 
therewith  broke  out  in  open  insurrection  in  1786. 

No  government  could  long  exist  that  had  not  the 
power  to  levy  taxes  for  its  support.  Thoughtful  men 
in  the  states  saw  that  a  stronger  and  more  centralized 
government  was  a  necessity  if  the  Union  of  the  States 
was  to  be  established  and  preserved,  and  they  brought 
about  the  calling  of  a  convention  to  revise  the  Articles 
of  Confederation.  The  convention  met  in  May,  1787, 
and  the  federal  constitution  issued  from  their  hands 
in  the  following  September.  By  the  end  of  the  year 
1788,  eleven  States  had  ratified  it,  thus  securing  its 
going  into  operation  on  the  appointed  day.  On  the 
fourth  day  of  March,  1789,  the  constitution  went  into 
effect,  and  the  old  order  of  things  expired.    A  republi- 

154 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

can  government  was  established  on  the  federal  consti- 
tution as  an  experiment  in  the  New  World. 

The  electoral  vote  was  not  counted  until  the  sixth 
of  April,  when  it  was  found  that  George  Washington 
had  been  unanimously  elected  the  first  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  as  such  he  was  inaugurated  on 
the  last  day  of  that  month.  In  appointing  the  chiefs 
of  the  different  administrative  departments,  he  had  the 
good  judgment  to  appoint  Alexander  Hamilton  secre- 
tary of  the  treasury,  and  directed  him  to  report  a  sys- 
tem of  finance ;  and  in  the  month  of  January,  1790,  he 
brought  forward  his  plan. 

This  was  to  pay  the  national  debt,  which  now 
amounted  to  $54,000,000,  the  government  to  assume 
the  State  debts  contracted  during  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  to  do  this  by  imposing  duties  on  foreign 
goods  and  distilled  spirits.  This  plan  met  with  strong 
opposition,  both  in  and  out  of  the  Congress,  but  was 
finally  adopted,  and  its  operation  soon  gave  general 
satisfaction,  for  it  established  a  confidence  in  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  country.  To  Alexander  Hamilton  is  due 
the  honor  for  the  restoration  of  the  national  credit, 
and  he  fully  merited  the  eloquent  tribute  paid  him  by 
Daniel  Webster,  who  said  of  him:  "He  smote  the 
rock  of  national  resources,  and  abundant  streams  of 
revenue  burst  forth;  he  touched  the  dead  corpse  of 
public  credit  and  it  sprang  upon  its  feet." 

A  bank  charter  bill  was  passed  by  the  Congress  Feb- 
ruary 25th,  1791 ;  a  national,  or  "United  States  Bank," 
was  established  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  the 
same  year:  and  also  a  Government  mint.  The  pro- 
visions of  the  incorporation  of  the  bank  were  formu- 
lated by  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  copied  them  from 
the  Bank  of  England.  Some  of  the  principal  argu- 
ments of  Hamilton  were  that  the  organization  of  such 
a  bank  would  aid  the  government  in  obtaining  loans  in 

155 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

sudden  emergencies,  by  having  the  capital  concen- 
trated, would  facilitate  the  payment  of  taxes  by  ex- 
tending credit,  and  furnish  a  convenient  medium  for 
remittances  from  place  to  place  of  funds  to  meet  the 
local  needs  of  trade;  which  latter  function  would  be 
further  facilitated  by  the  system  of  branches  proposed. 

The  bank  was  to  serve  as  the  receiver  and  disburser 
of  public  funds,  so  that  the  money  received  from  taxes 
would  not  be  locked  up  awaiting  the  government's  ex- 
penditure, but  remain  all  the  while  in  circulation. 
Hamilton  showed  how  the  incorporation  of  such  a 
bank  facilitated  the  government's  fiscal  operations,  and 
established  a  stronger,  more  uniform  credit  and  cur- 
rency system  for  the  whole  country.  The  bank  was  to 
be  governed  by  twenty-five  directors.  Small  investors 
in  the  shares  were  protected  by  being  given  a  relatively 
greater  voting  power,  and  no  one  was  allowed  to  cast 
more  than  thirty  votes.  The  notes  and  other  debts 
of  the  bank  (exclusive  of  deposits),  were  not  to  ex- 
ceed the  capital  of  the  bank,  the  directors  being  liable 
for  such  excess. 

Branches  of  the  bank  were  authorized  to  be  opened 
in  any  part  of  the  United  States,  and  the  secretary  of 
the  treasury  was  empowered  to  require  reports  from 
the  bank  and  to  inspect  the  general  accounts  upon 
which  such  reports  were  based.  The  bank  was  not 
allowed  to  hold  real  estate  beyond  that  necessary  for 
offices,  etc.,  unless  acquired  in  satisfaction  of  pre- 
existing debt,  and  was  prohibited  from  loaning  money 
to  the  government  in  excess  of  $100,000,  or  more  than 
$50,000  to  any  State.  Loans  to  foreign  princes  or 
States  were  not  allowed  unless  first  sanctioned  by  the 
Congress. 

Dealings  in  stocks  and  bonds  were  not  permitted  ex- 
cept to  sell  those  it  acquired  at  the  beginning.  The 
dealings  of  the  bank  were  strictly  confined  to  the  nee- 

156 


THE   DRAGON^S   TEETH 

essary  transactions  of  legitimate  banking,  such  as  bills 
of  exchange  and  bullion,  loans  and  discounts — and  on 
loans  and  discounts  it  was  forbidden  to  charge  more 
than  six  per  cent.  The  charter  was  to  run  for  twenty- 
years. 

It  appears  that  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  never 
required  any  reports  upon  the  condition  of  the  bank 
during  all  the  period  of  its  existence,  but  his  failure 
to  do  so  was  not  the  fault  of  the  provisions  in  the 
charter;  however,  the  bank  seems  to  have  been  hon- 
estly and  ably  conducted,  and  was  in  many  important 
particulars,  the  best  banking  system  our  country  has 
ever  had.  It  was  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  govern- 
ment in  its  most  trying  days,  and  the  country  became 
generally  prosperous  during  its  operation,  in  which 
time  the  United  States  developed  into  one  of  the  stable 
powers  of  the  world,  recognized  as  such  by  the  na- 
tions, and  its  influence  universal.  In  fact,  the  period 
covered  by  the  two  decades  of  the  Hamilton  United 
States  Bank  was  one  of  unparalleled  prosperity,  when 
everything  is  taken  into  consideration.  Agriculture 
was  then  nearly  the  sole  industry.  The  country  had 
first  to  recover  the  losses  of  an  impoverishing  war,  and, 
being  a  new  country,  its  credit  and  commerce  were 
not  firmly  established  with  the  nations.  Much,  of 
course,  is  due  to  the  energies  of  the  people ;  but  much 
is  also  due  to  the  wise  foresight  of  the  fathers  of 
the  republic  in  establishing  a  good  system  of  finance. 
Especial  credit  is  due  to  Alexander  Hamilton,  who,  at 
the  age  of  thirty-two,  took  charge  of  the  treasury  de- 
partment. 

Hamilton  was  incomparably  the  greatest  of  the  coun- 
try's financial  ministers.  No  better  system  than  his 
has  yet  been  devised  or  put  into  practice ;  and  no  bet- 
ter system  is  possible  based  on  the  commodity  theory 
of  money.     But  instead  of  continuing  this  wise  sys- 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

tem,  a  renewal  of  charter  was  denied  the  bank,  and  it 
was  even  denied  an  extension  of  time  in  which  to  wind 
up  its  business.  It  was  thus  that  the  people  and  the 
Congress  showed  their  appreciation  of  the  bank  and 
its  eminent  founder.  With  the  destruction  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  Bank,  the  country  was  thrown  back  on  the 
headless,  inadequately  restricted,  irresponsible  State 
banking  system. 

The  number  of  State  banks  rapidly  increased — some 
of  them  beginning  without  any  capital  at  all.  Massa- 
chusetts imposed  wholesome  legal  restrictions  on  its 
banking  institutions,  but  in  most  of  the  States,  there 
were  no  adequate  legal  restrictions,  and  bank  failures 
soon  followed  as  an  inevitable  consequence.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  banks  outside  of  New  England  suspended 
in  August,  1814.  The  depreciation  of  southern  and 
western  bank  notes  was  most  severe.  The  note  issues 
from  some  southern  banks  were  discounted  as  much  as 
twenty-three  per  cent.  Lack  of  authoritative  informa- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  public  caused  them  to  be  dis- 
criminated against  by  localities  rather  than  between 
banks.  Some  of  the  notes  of  certain  banks  in  Ken- 
tucky reached  a  maximum  discount  of  seventy-five  per 
cent.  In  one  year  after  the  United  States  bank  was 
abolished,  the  Congress  had  to  issue  treasury  notes 
to  cover  short-term  loans ;  and  altogether,  during  the 
period  of  financial  difficulties  that  existed  between 
the  times  that  the  first  United  States  bank  was  abol- 
ished and  the  second  bank  established,  the  government 
issued  in  notes  and  bonds  $80,000,000.  For  these  it 
actually  received  only  $34,000,000,  a  loss  to  the  people 
of  $46,000,000,  besides  the  interest. 

Secretary  Gallatin,  in  reviewing  this  period,  avers 
that  "had  the  charter  of  the  federal  bank  been  renewed, 
this  loss,  enormous  for  the  country  at  that  time,  would 
not  have  occurred." 

158 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Many  of  the  members  of  Congress  who  had  aided 
in  defeating  the  renewal  of  the  federal  bank  charter, 
began  to  see  the  mistake  they  had  made.  President 
Madison,  who  while  a  member  of  the  Congress  was  the 
leader  of  the  opposition,  modified  his  views;  and  ex- 
President  Jefferson,  who,  it  appears,  had  begun  for 
the  first  time  to  employ  the  powers  of  his  great  mind 
to  solve  the  money  question  (hitherto  he  seems  to 
have  depended  on  Hamilton  and  others  who  were 
supposed  to  have  given  the  subject  special  study), 
wrote  to  President  Madison,  advising  him  to  propose 
the  issuing  of  a  government  currency,  $20,000,000  an- 
nually, so  long  as  needed,  and  to  appeal  to  the  States 
to  relinquish  the  right  to  establish  banks  of  issue. 
This  appears  to  have  been  the  first  important  sug- 
gestion for  a  government  issued  currency,  and  is  all 
the  more  important  because  made  by  Jefferson,  the 
great  champion  of  States'  Rights.  The  lives  of  the 
wisest  men  are  too  short  to  cover  the  whole  field  of 
knowledge.  We  are  of  the  opinion  that  if  Jefferson 
had  lived  a  few  more  years,  the  country  would  have 
been  still  further  indebted  to  him  for  the  discovery  of 
a  scientific  system  of  money. 

President  Madison,  in  his  message  to  the  Congress, 
referred  to  the  absence  of  specie  in  the  country,  and 
the  need  of  a  substitute ;  that  if  the  State  banks  could 
not  furnish  a  uniform  national  currency,  a  naticgial 
bank  might  do  so ;  and  that  if  neither  could,  "it  might 
become  necessary  to  ascertain  the  terms  upon  which 
the  notes  of  the  government  (no  longer  required  as 
an  instrument  of  credit)  shall  be  issued,  upon  motives 
of  general  policy,  as  a  common  medium  of  circulation." 
The  exigency  must  have  been  great  to  have  wrought 
this  radical  change  in  Madison's  views.  The  general 
agitation  of  the  subject  caused  public  sentiment  to 
crystallize  in  favor  of  the  establishment  of  another 

159 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

national  bank,  which  was  carried  into  effect  by  the 
Congress. 

The  charter  bill  for  the  second  United  States  bank 
passed  the  house  March  14th,  1816,  passed  the  Senate 
in  April,  and  was  approved  by  President  Madison  the 
tenth  of  that  month.  The  bank  was  opened  for  busi- 
ness January  17th,  18 17.  The  charter  provisions  were 
in  most  instances  copied  upon  lines  devised  by  Ham- 
ilton for  the  first  United  States  bank.  The  capital  was 
fixed  at  $35,000,000,  the  government  to  take  one-fifth 
of  the  stock  ($7,000,000),  paying  for  it  with  its  obli- 
gations in  installments,  the  last  one  being  paid  in  1831. 
Of  the  remaining  $28,000,000,  one- fourth  was  to  be 
paid  in  specie,  the  balance  to  be  paid  either  in  specie 
or  government  bonds,  in  three  equal  half-yearly  instal- 
ments. No  single  subscription  for  more  than  three 
thousand  shares  was  to  be  accepted,  unless  the  full 
amount  was  not  taken  on  the  date  fixed. 

There  were  the  same  restrictions  on  voting  shares 
as  in  the  first  bank,  and  the  same  number  of  directors ; 
but  now,  the  government  having  one-fifth  of  the  stock, 
the  charter  required  that  one-fifth  of  the  board  of 
directors  be  appointed  by  the  President.  In  lieu  of 
making  a  loan  to  the  government,  as  was  provided  in 
the  charter  of  the  first  bank,  the  second  bank  was  re- 
quired to  pay  a  bonus  of  $1,500,000,  and  it  was  to  act 
as  the  government's  fiscal  agent,  including  the  trans- 
fer of  funds  without  compensation.  This  feature  was 
a  marked  improvement  on  the  first  charter.  The  de- 
posit of  public  moneys  was  to  be  made  in  the  bank  or 
its  branches,  where  they  existed,  unless  otherwise  di- 
rected by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  when  that 
officer  gave  such  direction  he  was  to  report  his  reasons 
therefor,  to  the  Congress. 

The  bank  was  empowered  to  establish  branches  any- 
where, with  a  local  organization,  and  it  was  required 

160 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

to  have  a  branch  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  in 
every  state  where  as  much  as  two  thousand  shares  of 
its  stock  were  held.  Reports  were  to  be  made  to  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury  as  often  as  required,  and  the 
bank  was  subject  to  his  inspection  and  to  that  of  com- 
mittees of  the  Congress.  The  note-issuing  function 
was  more  specifically  provided  for  than  in  the  first 
charter.  The  issuing  of  notes  under  five  dollars  was 
prohibited,  and  all  notes  of  denominations  under  one 
hundred  dollars  were  to  be  payable  to  bearer,  on  de- 
mand. Suspension  of  coin  payments  of  notes  and 
deposits  was  prohibited,  and  the  violation  of  the  pro- 
hibition made  subject  to  a  penalty  of  twelve  per  cent, 
per  annum.  All  liabilities  other  than  deposits  were 
not  to  exceed  the  amount  of  the  capital,  unless  author- 
ized by  the  Congress,  and  directors  were  personally 
liable  for  any  excess.  The  notes  of  the  bank  were  to 
be  receivable  in  all  payments  to  the  United  States. 

The  provisions  relative  to  holding  real  estate  and 
speculating  in  stocks  were  the  same  in  the  second 
charter  as  in  the  first ;  but  the  officers  and  stockhold- 
ers of  the  second  bank  very  soon  violated  these  pro- 
visions. It  is  a  regrettable  matter  of  history  that 
the  management  of  the  second  bank  was  in  the  begin- 
ning dishonest,  and  that  some  of  the  charter  restric- 
tions were  grossly  violated.  A  number  of  the  officers 
and  directors  speculated  in  the  stock  of  the  bank  itself, 
and  the  first  two  years  showed  a  loss  from  this  source 
of  more  than  $3,500,000.  It  was  required  in  the  char- 
ter that  the  bank  should  have  $7,000,000  in  specie  to 
begin  with,  but  this  requirement  was  disregarded,  as 
the  bank  did  business  for  the  first  two  years  with  only 
about  $2,000,000  in  specie. 

A  committee  appointed  by  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives investigated  the  afifairs  of  the  bank  in  Novem- 
ber,  1818,  and  its  report,  made  in  February,   1819, 

161 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

published  the  violations  of  the  charter  provisions  re- 
ferred to  above,  but  the  offenders  were  never  pun- 
ished. The  report  on  the  bank  was  written  by  John 
C.  Spencer,  who  afterwards  became  secretary  of  the 
treasury.  This  investigation  had  the  effect  to  alter 
the  management  of  the  bank,  and  in  March,  1819, 
London  Cleves  was  made  its  president.  Under  his 
four  years'  able  and  conscientious  management,  the 
evils  were  corrected,  and  the  bank  became  very  pros- 
perous. 

When  the  second  bank  came  into  existence,  the 
country  was  flooded  with  the  depreciated  notes  of 
state  banks,  which  were  a  serious  obstacle,  and  could 
only  be  overcome  by  a  general  demand  for  coin  pay- 
ments. The  bank  restored  coin  payments  at  once, 
and  the  state  banks  were  urged  to  resume  specie  pay- 
ments. Finally,  the  federal  bank  negotiated  an  agree- 
ment with  the  state  banks  in  the  principal  cities  to  re- 
sume specie  payments.  This  proved  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult, for  the  country  was  short  of  specie,  and  there 
appears  to  have  been  a  premium  on  foreign  exchange, 
in  1817  and  1818,  causing  the  specie  which  was  im- 
ported from  abroad  promptly  to  return. 

The  dearth  of  specie  in  the  country  influenced  the 
state  banks  to  continue  their  paper-note  issues.  The 
problem,  though  formidable,  was  at  last  measurably 
surmounted;  but  in  doing  so,  the  circulating  medium 
in  the  country,  which  had  largely  consisted  of  redun- 
dant state  bank  notes,  was  reduced  more  than  half, 
which  was  absolutely  ruinous  to  the  debtor  class,  and 
brought  on  "hard  times."  Loans  were  violently  con- 
tracted, and  prices  seriously  fell. 

Secretary  Crawford,  asked  by  the  House  for  his 
views  on  the  advisability  of  a  treasury  note  issue, 
strongly  opposed  the  proposition,  and  his  advice  was 
followed.    Much  of  the  disturbance  during  this  period 

162 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

was  occasioned  by  the  great  fluctuations  in  exchange 
between  the  Eastern  States  and  those  of  the  South 
and  West.  The  people  of  the  Southern  and  Western 
States,  whose  pursuits  were  mostly  agricultural,  ow- 
ing to  their  limited  and  widely  scattered  rural  popu- 
lation, were  placed  at  a  disadvantage,  which,  in  part, 
accounts  for  the  unstable  character  of  their  banks,  and 
the  discount  of  their  notes.  Besides,  the  government 
constantly  drew  large  sums  from  those  sections,  in 
payment  for  public  lands,  while  the  bulk  of  the  gov- 
ernment's disbursements  were  made  in  the  Eastern 
States,  which  gave  the  people  and  flie  banks  of  the 
East  a  great  advantage. 

The  federal  bank  appears  to  have  honestly  endeav- 
ored to  relieve  this  condition  by  redeeming  its  notes 
at  par,  no  matter  where  issued  by  any  of  its  branches ; 
but  finding  itself  seriously  embarrassed  by  this  policy, 
so  much  so  as  to  threaten  its  own  suspension,  it  was 
compelled  to  admit  a  depreciation  of  some  of  its  notes. 
But,  be  it  said  to  the  credit  of  the  bank,  that  deprecia- 
tion never  exceeded  one  per  cent. 

The  whole  machinery  of  the  state  banks,  with  all 
the  political  influence  they  could  command,  was  used 
against  the  federal  bank.  The  statistics  of  state  banks 
show  it  had  been  their  general  policy  to  organize  banks 
mainly  for  the  purpose  of  issuing  notes,  and  then 
exert  their  political  influence  to  obtain  government  de- 
posits. The  States  were,  in  most  instances,  interested 
as  shareholders  in  the  state  banks,  which  operated  to 
prevent  the  exercise  of  any  restraining  power. 

The  charter  violations  by  the  first  officers  and  direc- 
tors of  the  federal  bank  were  used  as  the  basis  of 
criticism,  as  well  as  the  later  practice  of  the  bank  in 
issuing  what  was  called  "branch  drafts"  to  circulate 
as  notes,  and  reporting  them  as  such,  which  was 
clearly  in  violation  of  law. 

163 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Another  cause  of  the  antagonism  on  the  part  of  the 
state  banks  was  the  practice  of  the  federal  bank  of 
presenting  to  the  state  banks  for  redemption  the  state 
bank  notes  which  came  into  its  possession,  instead  of 
paying  them  out  in  the  regular  course  of  business. 
The  practice  in  several  of  the  States  became  serious. 
Maryland  insisted  on  taxing  the  federal  bank,  and 
the  matter  was  taken  up  in  the  courts.  The  supreme 
court,  upon  appeal,  settled  the  controversy  by  prohibit- 
ing State  interference  with  the  bank.  Nevertheless,  in 
Ohio  the  federal  bank  was  declared  an  outlaw  for 
resisting  exorbitant  taxation;  Georgia  passed  a  law 
virtually  justifying  creditors  in  refusing  payment  of 
debts  to  the  bank ;  Kentucky  passed  "stay  laws,"  prac- 
tically relieving  debtors  to  the  bank  of  their  obliga- 
tions. The  people  were  taught  to  believe  that  the 
practice  of  the  federal  bank  in  presenting  notes  of  state 
banks  for  payment  in  specie  was  criminal,  and  that  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  bank  to  lend  its  capital  to  the 
state  banks  without  interest. 

But  despite  all  this  opposition  and  outcry,  and  de- 
spite the  maladministration  of  the  bank  in  the  begin- 
ning, which  seriously  threatened  to  destroy  it,  the 
bank  continued  to  flourish,  and  to  demonstrate  its  su- 
periority over  state  banks.  When  following  the  vio- 
lent contraction  of  the  currency  in  the  years  up  to 
1819,  values  at  last  became  settled  and  readjusted, 
there  succeeded  a  period  of  general  prosperity  and 
contentment  among  the  people.  James  Monroe,  who 
was  then  President,  was  universally  popular,  having 
in  his  election  received  every  electoral  vote.  Party 
antagonism  ceased,  and  it  was  called  the  "Era  of 
Good  Feeling."  The  people  had  been  taught  an  ex- 
pensive object  lesson.  The  losses  had  been  enormous. 
Between  the  years  1817  and  1821,  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  state  banks  failed ;  but  by  1820  the  worst  of 

164 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  troubles  resulting  from  the  War  of  1812,  and 
the  depreciated  state  bank  currency,  were  over. 

With  the  improvement  of  monetary  conditions,  in- 
dustries began  to  prosper,  and  the  finances  of  the 
government  increased,  enabling  it  to  begin  a  reduction 
of  the  federal  debt.  The  people,  seeing  and  benefit- 
ing by  all  this,  stopped  their  antagonisms  to  the 
federal  bank;  at  the  same  time  there  v^as  improve- 
ment made  in  state  banking  laws,  and  sounder  princi- 
ples of  currency  were  introduced.  In  1829  New  York 
State  adopted  by  statute  what  was  termed  the  "Safe- 
ty Fund  System,"  which  provided  that  the  banks, 
in  renewing  their  charters,  might  take  advantage  of 
the  act  to  contribute  to  a  joint  fund  for  the  redemption 
of  notes  and  the  payment  of  deposits  of  any  of  their 
number  which  might  fail.  It  was  left  optional  with 
banks  as  to  whether  they  should  adopt  the  system, 
and  only  a  few  of  them  adopted  it.  The  system  was 
in  every  way  admirable,  but  it  failed  solely  because 
no  provision  was  made  for  its  enforcement.  This 
"safety  fund"  act  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  1829, 
is  doubtless  where  Mr.  W.  J.  Bryan  borrowed  the 
idea  of  "Guarantee  of  bank  deposits." 

The  federal  bank  exercised  a  wholesome  regulation 
of  state  banks,  chiefly  through  the  power  given  to  it 
as  the  government's  fiscal  agent.  State  banks  not  in 
good  standing  found  their  notes  rejected  by  govern- 
ment officers,  and  specie  redemption  required ;  but  with 
state  banks  in  good  standing  the  federal  bank  estab- 
lished friendly  relations,  received  their  notes  for  gov- 
ernment dues,  and  paid  the  treasury  drafts  with  its 
own  notes.  The  federal  bank  permitted  some  of  the 
state  banks  to  act  as  its  agents  at  points  where  it  had 
no  branches.  It  carried  large  balances  with  such 
banks,  and  accepted  their  notes.  As  the  business  of 
the  country  improved,  the  strength  and  influence  of 

165 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  bank  increased ;  or,  you  might  say  with  equal  his- 
torical accuracy,  that  as  the  strength  and  influence  of 
the  bank  increased  the  business  of  the  country  im- 
proved. The  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  second 
federal  bank,  after  its  recuperation  from  the  first  losses 
caused  by  maladministration,  forms  one  of  the  most 
interesting  chapters  in  the  monetary  history  of  the 
United  States. 

Hepburn,  writing  in  "Contest  for  Sound  Money," 
says :  "The  evidence  is  conclusive  that  the  bank  was, 
after  reorganization  by  Cleves,  and  particularly  under 
Biddle's  regime,  a  strong  institution,  a  valuable  auxil- 
iary to  the  government,  a  bulwark  against  rotten  bank- 
note issues,  a  most  serviceable  instrument  to  the  trade 
of  the  country,  and  in  its  international  relations  a  pro- 
tection to  American  industry  and  commerce." 

The  government  conducted,  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  bank,  its  most  important  fiscal  opera- 
tions, whereby  it  was  able  to  apply  the  public  funds 
in  any  part  of  the  country  where  most  needed.  The 
bank  received  the  paper  of  the  state  banks  paid  on 
public  accounts  in  the  interior,  placed  the  same  to  the 
credit  of  the  United  States  as  cash,  rendering  it  im- 
mediately available  wherever  the  public  service  re- 
quired. 

Such  was  the  universal  confidence  in  the  soundness 
of  the  bank,  that  citizens  of  other  countries,  in  trade 
with  our  own  citizens,  readily  accepted  the  notes  of 
the  federal  bank  in  payment  of  debts,  and  that  much 
specie  was  kept  at  home  that  would  otherwise  have 
gone  abroad.  The  bank  gave  to  the  nation  a  sound 
currency  system,  which  operated  as  a  stimulus  to  in- 
dustry and  gave  stability  to  prosperity  by  preventing 
fluctuation  in  values,  conserving  alike  individual  and 
national  wealth. 

Knowledge  of  President  Jackson's  opposition  to  the 

1 66 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

bank  came  upon  the  country  as  a  great  surprise.  As 
early  as  1829,  six  years  before  the  expiration  of  the 
charter,  he  recommended  to  the  Congress  that  the 
bank  be  not  rechartered.  The  supreme  court  had 
before  this  declared  the  act  chartering  the  bank  con- 
stitutional, but  Jackson,  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
court,  attacked  the  constitutionality  of  the  law,  and 
suggested  to  the  Congress  the  plan  of  another  bank, 
founded  on  the  credit  of  the  government  and  its  reve- 
nues, so  devised  as  to  avoid  all  constitutional  diffi- 
culties, and  at  the  same  time  secure  to  the  government 
and  to  the  country  all  the  advantages  that  were  ex- 
pected to  result  from  the  present  bank.  The  legisla- 
ture of  South  Carolina  took  President  Jackson's  rec- 
ommendation seriously,  and  immediately  submitted  to 
the  Congress  a  plan  for  a  national  bank  in  line  with 
its  own  state  banking  policy.  One  feature  of  this  was 
excellent,  but  the  other  features  were  unsound  and 
impracticable.  The  other  States  took  no  formal  ac- 
tion. Both  houses  of  the  Congress  referred  the  sub- 
ject to  committees ;  and  both  committees  returned  re- 
ports strongly  defending  the  federal  bank,  and  this 
notwithstanding  they  were  composed  of  Jackson's 
friends. 

At  the  same  time  every  member  of  Jackson's  cabi-. 
net,  except  one,  was  against  him  in  his  banking  policy, 
and  in  favor  of  the  federal  bank.  But  Jackson  kept 
renewing  his  attacks  on  the  bank  with  that  persistency 
which  characterized  him  in  all  his  public  acts,  and  the 
question  of  rechartering  the  bank  soon  became  a  po- 
litical one  on  which  parties  were  divided.  The  state 
banks  maintained  a  lobby  at  the  capital,  a  kind  of 
secret  cabal  called  the  "Kitchen  Cabinet,"  headed  by 
Amos  Kendall,  who  afterwards  became  postmaster- 
general. 

The  public  was  kept  in  ignorance  of  these  secret 
167 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

influences.  The  working  up  of  a  public  sentiment 
against  the  bank  was  most  adroitly  done.  It  appears 
now,  in  the  light  of  history,  that  the  main  ground  of 
Jackson's  oppositiori  to  the  bank  was  the  fact  that  he 
regarded  it  as  his  own  personal  political  enemy.  In 
pandering  to  the  demands  of  the  state  banks  and 
their  friends,  he  expected  from  them  (not  without 
reason)  a  stronger  political  support.  In  this  he  was 
not  disappointed,  as  is  proved  by  his  reelection  to  the 
presidency,  and  later  the  selection  of  Van  Buren  as 
his  successor.  The  administration  of  the  bank  was 
open  to  criticism  in  some  particulars,  and  its  enemies 
magnified  those  faults,  and  used  them  to  attack  the- 
bank  itself. 

A  bill  for  rechartering  the  bank,  containing  provi- 
sions intended  to  correct  existing  faults,  passed  both 
houses  of  the  Congress  in  the  summer  of  1832,  but 
was  vetoed  by  President  Jackson,  July  loth,  1832. 
Jackson,  by  this  time,  had  enough  of  adherents  in 
the  congress  to  sustain  his  veto.  The  main  reason 
which  he  assigned  for  his  veto  was  his  alleged  uncon- 
stitutionality of  the  first  charter,  this  notwithstanding 
that  the  supreme  court  had  declared  it  constitutional 
ten  years  before.  He  took  the  singular  position  that 
his  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  bound  him  to  sup- 
port it  as  he  himself  construed  it,  and  not  as  inter- 
preted by  the  supreme  court.  In  the  national  cam- 
paign which  followed,  Jackson's  veto  was  used  to  se- 
cure his  reelection.  The  friends  of  the  bank  were 
equally  active  against  him. 

Unfortunately  for  the  bank,  its  president,  Biddle, 
was  influenced  by  personal  interest  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  contest,  which  gave  color  to  the  dema- 
gogical charges  of  the  opposition  that  the  bank  was  a 
"monopoly,"  and  that  with  its  "great  wealth"  it  was 
"endangering  the  liberties  of  the  people,"  and  con- 

168 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

firmed  the  distrust  in  the  popular  mind.  The  result 
was  that  Jackson,  the  popular  hero  of  the  War  of 
1812,  was  reelected  by  a  greatly  increased  majority. 
Thus  encouraged  and  emboldened  by  his  popular  en- 
dorsement, he  recommended  in  his  message  to  the  Con- 
gress, December,  1832,  that  the  government  deposits 
be  transferred  to  the  state  banks,  and  that  the  govern- 
ment's shares  in  the  stock  of  the  bank  be  sold. 

Soon  after  this  a  special  examination  of  the  bank 
was  made  under  the  direction  of  the  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  McLane,  which  developed  the  fact  that  the 
bank  was  found  to  be  perfectly  solvent,  and  that  the 
government's  deposits  in  i^  were  absolutely  safe.  Upon 
this  showing,  the  House  >f  Representatives  refused, 
by  a  vote  of  109  to  40,  to  sell  the  government's  shares 
of  stock.  Thus  again  was  Jackson's  recommendations 
turned  down.  It  would  seem  that  he  would  have  there- 
after desisted  from  further  opposition ;  but  not  so  with 
Jackson.  It  was  to  him  as  if  he  were  fighting  a  duel 
with  the  bank,  and  opposition,  no  matter  how  formid- 
able, only  strengthened  his  determination  to  kill  it. 
All  the  forces  on  his  side  were  organized  for  further 
campaigning,  and  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Con- 
gress, Kendall  and  his  associates  vigorously  renewed 
the  work  of  bringing  about  the  utter  destruction  of 
the  bank.  Among  the  plans  devised  and  acted  upon 
was  the  one  to  take  advantage  of  the  provision  of  the 
law  authorizing  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  to  place 
the  government  moneys  elsewhere,  provided  he  ex- 
plained his  reasons  to  the  Congress  at  its  next  meet- 
ing. 

Polk,  in  the  minority  report  in  the  Congress,  ex- 
pressed serious  doubts  as  to  the  safety  of  the  public 
funds.  He,  like  Jackson,  was  pandering  to  the  state 
bank  influence,  for  popularity.  Jackson  ordered  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  Duane  to  remove  the  govern- 

169 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ment's  deposits  to  the  state  banks.  Duane  flatly  re- 
fused to  do  it,  declaring  such  action  unconscionable, 
and  opposed  to  the  expressed  will  of  the  Congress. 
Whereupon  Jackson  promptly  removed  him  and  ap- 
pointed Taney  in  his  place.  The  plan  at  first  adopted 
was  to  place  government  revenues  as  received  in  state 
banks,  and  to  draw  on  the  federal  bank  for  all  dis- 
bursements.   Later,  deposits  were  actually  transferred. 

The  bank,  thus  speedily  deprived  of  one-half  of  the 
public  money,  its  total  deposits  greatly  reduced,  was 
obliged  to  curtail  loans,  causing  a  money  stringency — 
and  for  that  it  was  likewise  attacked.  Kendall,  in  a 
published  letter,  stated  that  the  bank  continued  to 
exist  only  by  Secretary  Taney's  forbearance,  and  ap- 
parently gave  it  only  a  forty  days'  lease  of  life.  The 
former  custom  of  advising  the  bank  in  advance  when 
treasury  drafts  were  to  be  made  was  discontinued,  and 
large  drafts  were  made  without  previous  notice,  with 
the  apparent  object  of  causing  a  run  on  the  bank. 

When  the  Congress  met  in  December,  the  Senate  re- 
fused to  confirm  Taney's  nomination,  and  Levi  Wood- 
bury became  his  successor.  The  Senate,  still  anti- 
Jackson,  passed  a  resolution  declaring  that  President 
Jackson  had  exceeded  his  powers  in  his  actions  relat- 
ing to  the  public  revenues;  but  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives was  now  become  strongly  Jacksonian,  and 
voted,  132  to  82,  that  the  bank  ought  not  to  be  re- 
chartered.  A  committee  appointed  by  the  house  to 
again  examine  the  bank,  returned  majority  and  minor- 
ity reports — the  majority  report  in  opposition  to  the 
bank,  the  minority  report  strongly  in  its  favor.  In 
the  Senate  Jackson's  nominees  for  government  direc- 
tors of  the  bank  failed  of  confirmation. 

Jackson,  in  his  annual  message  to  the  Congress  in 
December,  1834,  characterized  the  bank  as  'The 
scourge  of  the  people,"  and  repeated  all  of  his  former 

170 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

charges.  He  recommended  the  sale  of  the  govern- 
ment holdings  of  stock,  and  the  repeal  of  that  part  of 
the  charter  making  the  bank's  notes  receivable  for  pub- 
lic dues.  He  averred  that  events  had  proved  that  the 
bank  was  unnecessary,  and  that  the  state  banks  had 
been  found  fully  adequate  to  serve  the  government  and 
would  soon  be  in  position  to  supply  all  the  wants  of 
the  people.  In  his  last  message,  in  December,  1836, 
he  made  the  statement  that  the  services  of  the  state 
banks  to  the  government  were  far  greater  than  those 
formerly  rendered  by  the  bank ;  but  at  the  same  tirne 
he  criticised  the  state  banks  for  speculating  in  public 
lands,  and  their  unwarranted  inflation  of  note  issues, 
which  had  expanded  fully  fifty  per  cent. ;  nevertheless, 
the  public  moneys  deposited  with  them  were  consid- 
ered safe. 

In  his  farewell  address,  March,  1837,  Jackson  took 
a  final  shot  at  the  federal  bank  which  he  had  de- 
stroyed, and  then  attacked  the  entire  currency  system, 
banks  generally,  the  "monied  interests,"  as  menacing 
the  liberties  of  the  people.  Secretary  Woodbury's  re- 
port in  1836  contained  the  confession  that  the  state 
banks  were  speculating  with  the  public  deposits,  and 
using  the  same  as  a  basis  for  increased  note  issues. 
Speculation  in  public  lands  assumed  tremendous  pro- 
portions, and  the  government,  in  accepting  state  bank 
notes  in  payment,  sustained  great  loss.  The  Con- 
gress was  asked  to  restrict  the  payment  of  public 
funds  to  specie ;  but  as  the  Congress  adjourned  with- 
out doing  so,  Jackson  had  a  treasury  circular  issued, 
requiring  specie  for  land  purchased.  This  caused  a 
violent  collapse  in  land  speculation,  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal sources  of  revenue  to  the  government. 

This  order  of  Jackson's  promulgated  through  the 
treasury  department,  and  his  criticism  of  the  conduct 
of  the  state  banks  so  soon  after  his  declaration  that 

171 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

they  were  serving  the  government  In  a  more  satisfac- 
tory manner  than  the  federal  bank  had  done,  is  proof 
that  his  first  statement  was  ill  advised. 

The  Act  of  June  23rd,  1836,  regulating  deposits, 
directed  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  to  select  in  each 
state  banks  which  in  his  judgment  were  in  a  satisfac- 
tory condition  in  which  to  deposit  the  government 
revenues,  subject  to  treasury  drafts.  The  amount  that 
might  be  deposited  in  any  bank  was  not  to  exceed 
seventy-five  per  cent,  of  its  paid-up  capital.  The 
banks  so  selected  were  required  to  report  their  condi- 
tion periodically  to  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  to 
credit  all  government  deposits  as  specie,  and  to  make 
transfers  of  funds  and  perform  such  other  functions 
as  the  federal  bank  had  been  required  to  do  by 
charter. 

The  secretary  of  the  treasury  was  empowered  to 
require  further  security  from  the  banks,  if  in  his 
judgment,  he  deemed  it  necessary.  He  was  required 
to  report  his  selections — or  changes  in  depositories  to 
the  Congress,  to  discontinue  depositing  in  banks  that 
had  suspended  specie  payments,  or  that  had  issued 
notes  under  five  dollars,  and  to  receive  for  public  dues 
no  notes  from  banks  that  issued  notes  in  denomina- 
tions less  than  five  dollars.  He  was  given  authority  to 
require  depository  banks  to  have  and  to  keep  a  rea- 
sonable amount  of  specie  on  hand.  For  deposits  in 
excess  of  one-fourth  of  the  capital,  banks  were  re- 
quired to  pay  two  per  cent,  interest,  and  the  banks 
were  subject  to  examination. 

The  transfer  of  deposits,  except  on  account  of  pub- 
lic business,  was  positively  prohibited.  The  same  act 
provided  that  the  surplus  in  the  treasury  in  excess  of 
five  million  dollars  be  deposited  with  the  States  in 
proportion  to  their  representation  in  the  Congress,  in 
four  equal  installments,  beginning  June  ist,  1837,  P^<^ 

172 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

vided  the  States  made  arrangements  to  officially  re- 
ceive the  money  and  pledge  themselves  to  return  it 
on  demand  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury.  The  first 
three  installments  were  paid,  amounting  to  $28,101,- 
644.  The  fourth  installment  was  never  paid,  because 
by  that  time  there  was  no  surplus  to  divide.  The  first 
three  installments,  as  stated  above,  deposited  with  the 
States,  is  still  on  deposit,  and  will  be  to  the  end  of 
time. 

It  is  a  curious  fact,  and  one  not  generally  known, 
that  those  deposits  are  still  carried  on  the  treasury 
books  as  "unavailable." 

The  depository  act,  in  bringing  a  number  of  banks 
throughout  the  country  under  control  of  the  treasury 
department,  thereby  adding  to  their  importance,  should 
have  had  a  regulating  effect  on  the  other  banks;  but 
it  came  too  late.  Jackson's  ''specie  circular"  deprived 
the  country  of  whatever  good  results  might  have  been 
expected  from  it. 

As  before  noted,  when  the  federal  bank  was  de- 
stroyed, a  very  large  number  of  little  state  banks 
sprang  up,  like  mushrooms  in  the  night.  These  state 
banks  issued  a  great  deal  of  paper  money  as  bank 
notes,  but  they  had  very  little  gold  and  silver.  This 
paper  money  could  be  easily  borrowed,  and  the  people 
began  to  buy  land  and  to  pay  for  it  in  bank-notes. 
Most  of  this  land  was  bought  from  the  government, 
and  when  the  government,  as  ordered  by  Jackson's 
treasury  circular,  refused  longer  to  receive  bank-notes 
in  payment,  and  demanded  gold  and  silver,  a  rush 
was  made  on  the  banks  for  specie,  which  they  could 
not  meet,  and  a  great  financial  crash  followed,  with 
its  widespread  distress.  Thousands  of  sturdy  pioneers, 
who  were  wresting  homes  with  the  woodman's  axe 
from  an  inhospitable  wilderness,  saw  the  patient  eam- 

173 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ings  of  years  ruthlessly  swept  away.  Failures  in  busi- 
ness amounted  to  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars. 

In  1836,  when  the  federal  bank  ceased  to  exist,  as  a 
national  institution,  on  account  of  limitation  of  char- 
ter, the  g-overnment  was  entirely  out  of  debt,  and  had 
besides  $37,000,000  in  the  treasury;  an  eloquent  trib- 
ute to  the  integrity  of  the  men  who  up  to  that  time  had 
managed  the  fiscal  affairs  of  our  government.  Will 
such  ever  be  the  case  again? 

In  one  year  after  the  federal  bank  ceased  to  exist, 
the  government  was  in  debt,  and  the  Congress  author- 
ized the  issuance  of  $10,000,000  in  treasury  notes, 
which  was  only  changing  the  form  of  the  debt,  for 
these  treasury  notes  were  credit  obligations  against 
the  government.  And  the  indebtedness  has  at  various 
times  since  then  been  added  to  under  different  necessi- 
ties and  pretexts,  by  subsequent  bond  and  note  issues, 
till  to-day  the  national  debt  has  reached  the  enormous 
sum  of  four  billion  dollars. 

Jackson  was,  and  remains,  the  peoples'  idol.  The 
fortunes  of  war  first  placed  him  on  the  pinnacle  of 
popular  favor.  That  he  was  honest  and  courageous,  is 
universally  conceded,  but  his  convictions  were  influ- 
enced by  unreasoning  prejudices.  He  possessed  a  vio- 
lent temper,  which  would  brook  no  opposition;  in  a 
contest  with  an  enemy  he  never  relented ;  and  cer- 
tainly his  financial  ideas  were  crude  and  ill-digested. 

Fortunately  for  his  own  administration,  he  retired 
to  private  life  before  the  main  fury  of  the  financial 
storm  which  he  had  raised  reached  its  maximum. 


174 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  SUBTREASURY. 

Van  Buren,  the  favorite  of  Jackson,  came  into  the 
presidency  in  the  great  panic  year  of  1837.  It  was 
impossible  that  the  ruinous  conditions  of  that  year 
could  long  exist,  and  in  another  year's  time  the  worst 
was  over;  but  during  that  time,  the  violent  contrac- 
tion of  the  currency,  the  great  fall  in  values  while 
the  amounts  of  debts  remained  the  same,  brought  finan- 
cial and  business  ruin  upon  the  debtor  class. 

Of  course,  after  the  worst  was  over,  after  the  period 
of  liquidation  which  overwhelmed  debtors  had  spent 
itself,  there  was  a  gradual  readjustment  of  values  to 
meet  the  changed  conditions,  and  business  began 
slowly  to  revive. 

Van  Buren,  having  been  taught  by  an  object  lesson 
the  danger  of  putting  government  money  into  state 
banks,  proposed  that  the  Government  should  have  a 
national  treasury,  with  branches  in  the  States,  desig- 
nated as  subtreasuries,  for  the  future  safe-keeping  of 
the  public  funds.  This,  known  as  the  "Subtreasury 
Scheme,"  was  adopted  in  1840,  given  up  in  1841,  and 
adopted  again  in  1846.  It  is  the  system  now  used  by 
the  Government. 

Scarcely  had  Van  Buren  taken  his  seat  when  the 
financial  storm  which  had  been  gathering  burst  upon 
the  country.  Merchants  everywhere  failed,  banks  sus- 
pended, debtors  were  bankrupted.  Eight  of  the 
Southern  and  Western  States  were  unable  to  pay  their 

175 


.THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

debts,  and  two  of  them,  Florida  and  Mississippi,  re- 
pudiated their  state  debts  altogether. 

The  nation  itself  was  at  the  verge  of  bankruptcy. 
Something  had  to  be  done.  Van  Buren  evolved  the 
"Subtreasury  Scheme,"  which  remains  his  monument. 
Its  continuation,  even  in  the  supposedly  more  enlight- 
ened present,  appears  to  confirm  the  wisdom  and 
statesmanship  of  its  founder ;  but  Webster  declared  the 
subtreasury  plan  "a  conception  belonging  to  barbarous 
times,  leading  to  the  hoarding  of  money,  keeping  from 
general  circulation  and  use  the  sums  which  the  Govern- 
ment should  receive  to-day  only  and  pay  out  again  to- 
morrow." 

During  the  panic  years  following  1836,  the  treasury 
note  issues  and  reissues  amounted  altogether  to 
$31,000,000,  and  at  times  they  were  below  par,  but  at 
other  times  commanded  a  premium  of  five  per  cent. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

REVIEW  OF  STATE  BANKING. 

After  the  lessons  taught  by  the  experiences  of 
1837-38,  many  of  the  States  passed  wholesome  laws 
for  the  correction  and  control  of  their  banks.  But  in 
most  instances  where  the  States  were  stockholders  in 
the  banks,  politics  were  allowed  to  corrupt  their  man- 
agement to  the  great  detriment  of  business  interests. 
Bonds  issued  by  the  States  to  capitalize  such  banks 
made  public  debts  which  the  people  had  to  pay  in  the 
only  way  such  debts  are  ever  paid — taxation.  There 
were,  however,  some  very  notable  exceptions.  Dela- 
ware and  South  Carolina  had  very  successful  state 
banks;  and  the  state  bank  of  Indiana  surpassed  them 

176 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

all  in  excellence  of  system  and  management.  It  was 
copied  in  a  large  degree  after  the  first  United  States 
bank,  which  was  devised  by  Hamilton.  It  was  char- 
tered for  twenty-five  years.  The  State  of  Indiana 
owned  one-half  the  stock,  individual  citizens  the  re- 
mainder, all  required  to  be  paid  in  specie. 

The  State  issued  bonds  to  raise  its  part  of  the  funds, 
and  also  advanced  to  individuals  subscribing,  sixty-two 
and  a  half  per  cent,  of  their  subscriptions,  taking  a 
lien  upon  their  shares  and  real  estate,  as  collateral  se- 
curity. The  president  and  four  directors  of  the  parent 
bank  were  chosen  by  the  Legislature,  and  one  director 
was  chosen  by  the  private  stockholders  of  each  branch. 

The  assets  of  each  branch  belonged  to  its  share- 
holders exclusively,  who  exercised  control  subject  to 
the  parent  board  at  Indianapolis,  which  alone  could  de- 
clare dividends.  Each  branch  being  charged  with  the 
management  of  its  own  affairs  by  its  own  local  board, 
subject  to  the  supervision  of  the  parent  board,  created 
a  healthy  rivalry  among  the  branches  to  make  in- 
creased earnings,  and  operated  as  an  incentive  to  en- 
ergy and  conservatism.  Each  branch  was  liable  for 
the  debts  of  every  other  branch,  and  in  case  of  insolv- 
ency, liquidation  of  indebtedness  was  required  to  be 
made  within  one  year. 

This  induced  an  interested  if  not  a  jealous  watch- 
fulness of  each  other,  and  a  most  vigorous  and  intelli- 
gent system  of  examinations  and  supervision  by  the 
central  board.  Loans  exceeding  five  hundred  dollars 
could  only  be  made  by  five-sevenths  majority  of  the 
board,  the  name  and  vote  of  each  director  to  be  en- 
tered in  the  minutes.  Officers  and  directors  could  not 
vote  upon  a  proposition  in  which  they  were  financially 
interested.  Directors  were  made  individually  liable  for 
any  loss  resulting  from  loans  in  violation  of  the  law, 
unless  they  could  prove  that  they  voted  in  opposition. 

177 


THE    DRAGON'S   TEETH 

Favoritism  in  loans  to  officers  and  directors  was  for- 
bidden. 

The  insolvency  of  any  branch  was  presumptively 
fraudulent,  and  unless  the  fraud  was  disproved,  the 
directors  were  liable  without  limit  for  the  debts.  If, 
after  their  estates  were  exhausted,  any  indebtedness 
still  remained,  the  other  stockholders  were  liable  for 
an  amount  equal  to  the  par  value  of  the  stock.  Any 
director,  in  order  to  protect  his  estate,  must  be  pre- 
pared to  prove  good  faith.  Directors  were  not  allowed 
to  make  loans  on  their  own  stock.  The  debts  to  or 
from  any  branch  could  not  exceed  twice  the  capital. 
The  effect  of  this  provision  was  to  limit  the  circulating 
notes  to  twice  the  capital. 

Rediscounts  or  loans  by  banks  at  that  time  were 
very  uncommon.  No  bank  would  borrow  money  from 
another  bank  and  pay  interest  on  the  loan,  when  it 
could  issue  its  own  circulating  notes  without  interest. 
Each  branch  was  required  to  redeem  its  notes  in 
specie,  on  demand,  and  was  compelled  to  receive  the 
notes  of  all  other  branches  without  discount.  The 
notes  were  signed  by  the  president  and  issued  to  the 
branches  by  the  parent  bank.  Discounts  were  not  al- 
lowed to  exceed  two  and  one-half  times  the  capital. 
Monopolization  was  prevented  by  restrictions  on  vot- 
ing shares. 

The  Indiana  state  bank  was  liquidated  at  the  expira- 
tion of  its  charter,  netting  stockholders,  $153.70  to 
the  share,  in  addition  to  good  dividends  which  had 
been  paid,  regularly.  The  State  of  Indiana  reaHzed 
from  the  bank  a  net  profit  of  $3,500,000. 

Our  excuse  for  giving  so  extended  a  description  of 
this  bank  is  that  the  system  was  in  most  respects  ideal 
as  applied  to  the  present  theory  of  money.  In  the  In- 
diana bank  there  was  an  independent  ownership  of 
assets,  but  a  joint  liability  for  debts.     The  branches, 

178 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

though  widely  separated,  were  woven  together  in  one 
harmonious  whole,  demonstrating  the  advantages  and 
efficiency  of  a  branch  banking  system.  It  demons- 
trated the  safety  and  efficiency  of  asset  or  credit  cur- 
rency when  administered  by  competent  management 
on  sound  principles. 

Of  course  every  asset  or  credit  currency,  for  the 
very  reason  that  it  is  a  credit  currency,  and  therefore 
more  or  less  subject  to  private  manipulation,  fails  to 
perfectly  and  equitably  distribute  the  benefits  of  pro- 
duction, and  is  liable  at  any  time  to  sudden  contrac- 
tion by  forced  liquidation  and  the  consequent  demoral- 
ization of  values. 

The  Bank  of  Indiana  presented  the  ideal  form  for 
supervision  and  examinations.  The  examiners  were 
expert  bankers  and  accountants,  judges  of  credits,  and 
able  to  make  a  complete  inventory  of  assets  and  lia- 
bilities; acquainted  with  the  conditions  of  localities 
where  the  branches  were  situated,  and  therefore  bet- 
ter able  to  judge  when  the  rules  of  prudence  had  been 
infringed. 

The  State  of  Louisiana,  in  1842,  enacted  a  state 
banking  law,  in  which  the  sound  principles  of  bank- 
ing, derived  from  experience,  were  embodied.  The 
system  was  similar  to  the  Indiana  bank,  and  contin- 
ued in  successful  operation  till  the  Civil  War. 

The  State  of  Ohio,  in  1845,  organized  the  State 
Bank  of  Ohio,  patterned  after  the  Indiana  bank.  The 
Ohio  bank  was  well  managed  and  very  successful.  It 
ceased  to  exist,  however,  with  the  expiration  of  its 
charter,  in  1866. 

This  practically  covers  the  period  of  state  banking. 
Great  improvements  in  banking  laws  and  manage- 
ment had  been  made ;  but  it  was  impossible  for  the  cir- 
culating notes  of  state  banks  to  meet  the  needs  of  a 
national  currency.    The  present  national  banking  sys- 

179 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

tern  having  gone  into  effect,  state  banking  became 
less  profitable,  and  therefore  less  desirable. 

A  bill  was  passed  by  the  Congress  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  National  Central  Fiscal  Bank,  to  be  located 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  with  a  capital  of  $30,- 
000,000,  of  which  amount  the  United  States  was  to 
have  two-tenths,  and  the  States  three-tenths,  to  be 
paid  for  by  the  United  States  in  place  of  the  "fourth 
installment  of  the  surplus,"  not  yet  distributed,  and 
to  which  the  States  thought  they  had  a  legal  right. 
Branches  were  to  be  located  in  the  States  unless  they 
dissented.  This  bill  was  promptly  vetoed  by  President 
Tyler,  in  August,  1841. 

The  essential  features  of  the  bill  were  admirable, 
but  Tyler  vetoed  it  on  the  ground  that  it  was  uncon- 
stitutional to  authorize  branches  in  the  States  without 
their  consent.  The  expressed  will  of  the  people  at  the 
polls  for  a  federal  bank  and  a  uniform  currency,  was 
defeated  by  the  action  of  a  party  asserting  the  extreme 
of  State  Sovereignty,  and  minimizing  the  federal 
power. 

A  second  bill  was  drawn  and  submitted  to  Tyler  for 
his  approval,  which  it  is  claimed  he  gave ;  but  in  the 
meantime,  Tyler,  who  was  of  a  vascillating  disposi- 
tion and  had  few  settled  convictions  of  statecraft,  was 
accused  of  currying  favor  with  the  Democrats;  and 
when  the  bill  was  passed  by  the  Congress,  September 
3rd,  1841,  he  vetoed  it  also,  and  the  party  in  the  Con- 
gress favoring  it  were  not  strong  enough  to  pass  it 
over  his  veto. 

This  last  act  of  Tyler's  caused  all  of  his  cabinet 
to  resign  except  Webster,  whose  patriotism  persuaded 
him  to  remain  for  some  time  in  order  to  complete  cer- 
tain important  negotiations  then  pending  with  foreign 
countries. 

At  this  time,  with  the  Subtreasury  Act  and  the  De- 

180 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

posit  Law  of  1836  repealed,  the  treasury  was  left 
largely  to  its  own  interpretation  of  what  was  expedi- 
ent, and  fell  back  upon  a  system  in  use  prior  to  the 
establishment  of  the  First  United  States  Bank,  which 
was  a  sort  of  independent  treasury  and  half-bank  de- 
posit system.  At  this  time,  too,  the  treasury  was 
compelled  to  borrow  money  to  meet  public  expenses. 

The  Democrats  won  in  the  Congressional  election 
of  1842,  but  the  Senate  remained  Whig,  so  that  finan- 
cial legislation  was  blocked. 

The  inability  of  the  treasury  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  government,  on  account  of  insufficient  revenue, 
made  it  necessary,  in  1843,  to  ask  the  Congress  for 
authority  to  issue  more  treasury  notes,  and  in  all 
$43,000,000  were  issued  and  used. 

Polk,  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  destruction  of  the 
federal  bank,  became  President  in  1844,  3.nd  was  con- 
sistent in  that  he  continued  to  oppose  the  policy  of  a 
national  bank. 

Tyler's  plan,  as  outlined  in  his  later  messages,  was 
to  continue  the  issue  of  treasury  notes,  secured  by  a 
specie  reserve.  Polk's  plan,  as  described  in  his  mes- 
sage to  the  Congress,  December,  1845,  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  "Constitutional  Treasury,"  that  would 
divorce  the  Government  from  the  banks  absolutely, 
and  prevent  them  from  using  the  public  moneys  for 
private  gain.  Bank  notes  were  to  be  excluded  from 
the  public  revenues.  Thus,  some  of  the  party  leaders 
claiming  to  be  for  one  thing  and  some  for  another, 
a  perfectly  chaotic  condition  existed.  The  failures  to 
establish  a  national  bank  on  account  of  Tyler's  vetoes, 
seemed  to  create  the  impression  on  the  public  mind 
that  one  was  not  to  be  established  under  any  circum- 
stances. They  therefore  turned  their  attention  in 
other  directions  in  search  of  more  feasible  expedients. 
The  one  definite  crystallized  idea  was  to  protect  the 

181 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Government's  moneys;  for  it  had  been  demonstrated 
that  the  state  banks  were  not  to  be  trusted;  yet  the 
device  was  to  be  such  as  would  not  in  the  least  inter- 
fere with  the  state  bank  currency,  under  the  plea  that 
Congress  had  no  constitutional  power  over  the  same. 
The  adherents  of  the  institution  of  slavery  feared  that 
if  Congress  was  conceded  the  constitutional  power  to 
regulate  currency,  it  might  afterwards  assume  the 
power  to  interfere  with  slavery. 

Polk's  measure  was  passed  by  the  Congress  and  re- 
ceived his  signature  as  President  August  6th,  1846. 
The  act  was  simply  an  experimental  expedient  to  pro- 
vide for  the  safety  of  the  government  revenues.  Its 
chief  features  were  the  prohibition  against  depositing 
the  public  moneys  in  the  state  banks,  or  disposing  of 
them  in  any  manner  other  than  in  the  payment  of 
treasury  drafts  and  transfer  orders.  All  government 
revenues  after  January  i,  1847,  were  to  be  paid  in 
specie  or  treasury  notes,  and  severe  penalties  for  dis- 
regard of  the  act  were  imposed.  It  was  found  im- 
possible, however,  to  fully  carry  out  the  provision  for 
specie  payments,  especially  in  post  offices ;  but  on  the 
whole,  Secretary  Walker  declared  himself  as  highly 
gratified  with  the  result. 

Another  issue  of  treasury  notes  to  the  amount  of 
$20,000,000  was  made  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war 
with  Mexico,  which  began  in  1846.  These  treasury 
notes  entered  into  circulation  as  money.  The  Gov- 
ernment resorted  to  bond  issues,  also,  at  this  time,  to 
be  used  in  part  to  fund  the  notes  above  mentioned. 

Both  President  Polk  and  Secretary  Walker  pointed 
with  pride  to  the  success  of  the  "Constitutional  Treas- 
ury," claiming  that  it  had  prevented  inflation  and  sus- 
pension during  the  war  period,  and  had  enabled  the 
Government  to  sell  its  bonds  at  a  premium. 

History  reveals  the  fact  that  during  the  period  of 

182 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

state  banks,  whenever  specie  payments  were  sus- 
pended, a  marked  increase  in  the  number  of  banks 
occurred,  because  at  such  times  the  profits  on  circu- 
lation were  large,  and  the  liability  small. 

From  1837  to  1840  the  number  of  banks  increased 
one  hundred  and  thirteen,  and  the  nominal  capital  in- 
creased $68,000,000.  By  1843  the  resumption  of 
specie  payments  had  become  general,  the  number  of 
banks  had  diminished  two  hundred  and  ten,  and  the 
nominal  capital  had  decreased  $130,000,000.  Bank- 
note issues,  which  had  aggregated  $149,000,000,  now 
amounted  to  less  than  $59,000,000.  The  liquidation 
of  the  paper  currency  had  reduced  the  per  capita  cir- 
culation from  $13.87  to  $6.87.  The  large  number  of 
business  failures  were  without  precedent  in  the  coun- 
try's history.  The  estimated  losses  during  the  period 
were  nearly  $800,000,000.  The  many  who  had  con- 
tracted debts  in  the  purchase  of  lands,  of  stock  and 
implements  and  furnishings,  for  business  extensions 
and  improvements,  now  discovered  that  their  ability 
to  pay  those  debts  was  reduced  just  one-half.  Bank- 
ruptcy overwhelmed  the  debtor  class. 

In  view  of  the  condition  of  the  state  banks,  the 
Subtreasury  Act  was  a  proper  measure ;  for  it  secured 
the  safety  of  the  public  funds  and  saved  the  credit  of 
the  Government.  Following  the  year  1850  there  was 
a  general  improvement  in  state  banking.  Deposits  of 
public  money,  which  had  hitherto  encouraged  specu- 
lation, had  been  eliminated,  with  the  consequence  that 
legitimate  commercial  banking  increased.  The  banks 
became  much  more  conservative  in  the  issuing  of 
currency.  Laws  were  passed  by  the  State  Legisla- 
tures placing  severe  restrictions  upon  banking.  In 
some  of  the  States  this  was  done  by  constitutional 
amendments.  After  a  time,  though,  this  rigidity  was 
relaxed,  and  increased  bank-note  issues  were  reported 

183 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

from  nearly  all  the  States.  One  reason  for  this,  how- 
ever, was  the  scarcity  of  silver  coin,  which  made  notes 
of  small  denominations  a  necessity  for  use  by  the  peo- 
ple in  the  every-day  transactions  of  petty  trade. 

Many  States  adopted  the  New  York  "Free  Bank- 
ing" and  "Bond  Deposit"  plan.  State  bonds,  railway 
bonds  and  miscellaneous  securities,  were  used  as  the 
basis  of  bank-note  issues,  and  when  these  securities 
depreciated,  as  in  most  instances  they  did,  losses 
were  entailed  upon  note-holders.  Many  of  the  banks 
reported  no  deposits  and  no  specie,  therefore  the  bonds 
deposited  to  secure  the  circulation  of  such  banks  were 
all  the  protection  note-holders  had.  But  many  of  the 
States  now  required  by  law  that  banks  regularly  re- 
port their  condition.  In  the  school  of  costly  experi- 
ence they  had  acquired  a  better  understanding  of  the 
banking  business  and  its  proper  conduct,  and  many 
evils  were  corrected.  Compulsory  specie  reserve  laws 
were  enacted  in  the  New  England  States,  which,  sup- 
plemented by  other  wise  legislation,  served  to  main- 
tain prompt  redemption  and  a  safe  bank  currency, 
acceptable  almost  everywhere  in  the  Union.  In  the 
year  1858  the  Suffolk  Bank  made  over  the  specie  re- 
demption of  notes  to  the  "Bank  of  Mutual  Redemp- 
tion," organized  for  the  purpose  by  the  country  banks. 

The  "Boston  Clearing  House"  was  established  in 
1856.  The  New  York  State  Banking  Department  was 
established  in  185 1.  The  Metropolitan  Bank  of  New 
York  was  established  to  act  as  a  central  redemption 
bank  in  the  same  year.  These  circumstances  led  to 
the  establishment  of  the  New  York  Clearing  House, 
in  1853,  which  operated  to  bring  about  a  much  more 
stable  and  secure  system  of  paper  currency. 

In  the  metropolis,  weekly  reports  were  required  to 
be  made  to  the  clearing  house  by  associated  banks, 
and  in  1858  a  fixed  ratio  of  cash  to  be  held  as  a  reserve 

184 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

against  deposit  liabilities  was  agreed  upon.  Clearing 
house  checks  began  to  take  the  place  of  currency  to  a 
considerable  extent.  Under  the  voluntarily  imposed  re- 
strictions and  the  clearing  house  system,  the  associ- 
ated banks  became  strong  and  influential.  The  prin- 
cipal use  of  the  clearing  house  system  is  to  reduce 
the  amount  of  actual  cash  required  in  exchange.  At 
10  a.  m.  every  day  each  bank  sends  to  the  clearing 
house  all  the  debit  items  it  holds  against  all  the  other 
banks,  and  gets  a  receipt  from  the  clearing  house  for 
the  same.  Each  bank  is  charged  by  the  clearing  house 
with  all  the  debits  against  it  by  the  other  banks;  and 
if  a  bank  has  a  balance  in  its  favor,  the  difference  is 
paid  either  in  cash  or  a  clearing  house  receipt.  If 
the  difference  is  against  the  bank,  the  bank  must  pay 
it  in  cash.  The  system,  besides  minimizing  the  use  of 
actual  cash,  removes  the  risk  of  sending  so  much 
money  about  the  streets,  and  reduces  the  expense  of 
messenger  service  and  bookkeeping.  Settlements, 
often  involving  thousands  of  dollars,  are  made  at  the 
clearing  house  in  less  than  an  hour,  and  all  credit 
balances  are  paid  by   1 130  p.  m. 

The  clearing  house  fixed  a  cash  reserve  basis,  and 
each  of  the  associated  banks  was  pledged  to  its  main- 
tenance. The  public  was  taken  into  confidence  by 
publishing  each  week  the  standing  and  showing  of 
each  bank.  This  helped  to  build  up  a  sense  of  moral 
responsibility  to  the  public  on  the  part  of  the  banks 
throughout  the  country. 

Philadelphia  banks  organized  a  clearing  house  in 
1858.  The  State  of  Pennsylvania  enacted  a  redemp- 
tion law  similar  to  that  of  New  York,  which  prohib- 
ited the  use  of  notes  under  five  dollars.  The  latter 
provision  was  embodied  in  the  laws  of  Maryland, 
Virginia,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Kansas  and 
Missouri;  the  main  object  of  which  was  to  enforce 

185 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  use  of  gold  and  silver  in  the  smaller  transactions 
of  the  people;  but  the  people  continued  to  demand 
small  notes,  and  depreciated  bank-note  issues  still 
flourished. 

A  national  banking  system  is  the  only  means  yet 
discovered  that  will  put  a  stop  to  irresponsible  note 
issues.  The  reports  on  banks  and  banking  at  that 
time  show  that,  added  to  the  large  amount  of  depre- 
ciated or  worthless  bank  notes,  was  an  ever-increasing 
amount  of  counterfeit  notes.  The  laws  regarding  the 
redemption  of  notes  were  not  enforced.  Those  who 
demanded  specie  payment  from  the  banks  were  in 
many  places  regarded  as  enemies  to  the  community, 
and  it  was  an  insult  to  bank  officials  to  demand  specie 
redemption. 

The  Subtreasury  Act  had  little  influence  on  the  cur- 
rency. In  1853-54  Secretary  Guthrie  used  the  surplus 
revenue  in  the  purchase  of  bonds  at  an  unwarranted 
premium.  On  one  occasion  he  paid  as  high  as  twenty- 
one  per  cent,  premium.  His  excuse  for  this  was  that 
he  deemed  it  necessary  to  relieve  the  money  strin- 
gency and  avert  a  panic. 

The  banks,  during  the  period  prior  to  1857,  became 
heavily  interested  in  railway  construction,  which  at 
that  time  assumed  extensive  proportions ;  thus  a  large 
part  of  their  means  was  tied  up  in  loans  made  to  the 
various  railway  companies.  This  has  been  by  some 
regarded  as  the  chief  cause  of  the  money  crisis  of 
1857;  but  the  fact  is,  it  was  only  contributory.  The 
real  cause  for  the  crisis  was  that  for  the  seven  years 
preceding,  the  country's  imports  exceeded  its  exports 
by  the  enormous  sum  of  $300,000,000,  and  $250,000,- 
000  of  this  vast  sum  was  sent  abroad  in  net  exports 
of  specie.  Notwithstanding  the  millions  in  gold  which 
had  been  mined  in  California,  all  of  it,  and  vastly 

186 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

more  besides,  had  been  shipped  out  of  the  country  in 
a  perfectly  golden  stream  across  the  Atlantic. 

Added  to  this,  the  years  of  1855-57  were  years  of 
liquidation,  and  a  general  run  was  made  on  the  banks 
for  specie.  When  the  specie  was  exhausted,  bank 
after  bank  suspended,  securities  fell  enormously,  and 
the  panic  of  1857  was  precipitated.  The  panic  was 
in  part  brought  on  by  the  action  of  the  banks  them- 
selves. None  knew  as  well  as  they  the  impossibility 
of  specie  redemption  of  the  inflated  bank-note  issues 
with  which  the  country  was  flooded,  hence  they  be- 
came suspicious  and  distrustful  of  each  other,  and  be- 
gan to  call  in  their  loans.  They  could  not  force  the 
collection  of  loans  made  to  railroad  companies,  so 
they  forced  collections  from  each  other,  and  from  the 
merchants.  The  New  York  banks  were  bound  to 
specie  redemption  by  state  law ;  but  the  courts  had 
previously  decided  that  the  law  against  suspension  was 
not  applicable  so  long  as  the  bank  was  not  insolvent, 
and  the  New  York  banks  were  among  the  first  to 
suspend.  The  New  York  banks  had  for  years  been 
the  monetary  center  of  the  country,  and  though  they 
had  an  immense  banking  capital,  they  were  subjected 
to  a  steady  drain  of  their  specie  by  the  subtreasury, 
in  the  collection  of  large  revenues,  and  constantly 
pressed  to  make  loans.  They  began  in  August,  1857, 
to  call  in  outstanding  loans,  and  to  refuse  applications 
for  new  ones,  endeavoring  in  that  way  to  avoid  sus- 
pension. 

The  telegraph,  only  lately  come  into  use,  speedily 
advised  the  country  of  these  things,  and  the  people 
took  alarm  at  the  unsettled  conditions.  An  awful 
struggle  among  note-holders  ensued.  Notes  on  coun- 
try banks  were  rushed  in  for  redemption,  causing  the 
country  banks  to  fail  one  after  another,  and  each  fail- 
ure and  the  losses  was  telegraphed  over  the  country, 

187 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

adding  to  the  panic.  Bank  shares,  which  sold  at  par, 
fell  more  than  sixty  per  cent. ;  stocks  fell  from  ten  to 
forty  per  cent. ;  and  foreign  exchange  broke  ten  per 
cent. 

The  treasury  began  early  in  the  year  to  buy  govern- 
ment bonds  in  small  amounts,  and  the  banks  looked 
to  it  for  further  assistance ;  but  the  money  paid  out 
in  the  purchase  of  bonds  was  offset  by  the  withdrawal 
of  deposit  accounts,  which  it  occasioned,  so  that  the 
treasury  department  helped  to  precipitate  what  it 
sought  to  avert. 

The  reduction  of  $40,000,000  in  government  de- 
posits in  the  New  York  banks  in  ten  weeks  so  dimin- 
ished their  specie  fund  that  they  were  forced  to  sus- 
pend October  14th,  1857.  Following  the  suspension 
of  the  New  York  banks,  most  of  the  others  outside  of 
Indiana,  Louisiana  and  South  Carolina,  went  down 
with  a  sudden  crash,  and  the  wreck  was  complete. 
The  devastation  wrought  was  comparable  only  to  a 
mighty  storm  that  levels  everything  in  the  pathway 
of  its  irresistible  course.  Over  51,00  failures  were 
recorded,  with  liabilities  aggregating  more  than  $300,- 
000,000;  imports  diminished  immediately,  prices  of 
stocks  and  of  all  commodities  fell  ruinously.  Many 
cargoes  of  goods  which  came  from  abroad  returned 
without  unloading. 

Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  the  aggregate 
of  business  losses  totaled  a  sum  very  nearly  the  same 
as  the  adverse  balance  of  trade  had  been  with  foreign 
countries,  demonstrating  that  no  country  can  long 
support  a  large  adverse  trade  balance. 

The  exchanges  at  the  New  York  clearing  house 
diminished  forty-three  per  cent.  The  banks  had  $445,- 
000,000  specie  obligations  in  notes,  and  only  $58,000,- 
000  in  specie  for  their  redemption — about  one  to  seven. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  impossible  it  is  to  pay  seven 

188 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

dollars  with  one  dollar,  and  that  is  the  complete  ex- 
planation of  what  brings  on  a  money  panic.  Liquida- 
tion has  preceded  every  panic  the  country  has  had. 
We  claim  to  have  a  convertible  currency  when  it  is 
not,  and  every  serious  attempt  at  conversion  is  suffi- 
cient to  precipitate  a  panic :  then  the  consequent  vacu- 
um made  in  the  volume  of  circulating  medium  has  to 
be  filled  by  treasury  notes. 

The'  treasury  notes  issued  before  the  Civil  War 
were  as  follows :     . . 

By  the  Continental  Congress. 

June  22,  1775 %    2,000,000 

July,   1775 1,000,000 

November,    1775 3,000,000 

By  the  United  States  Congress 

1776 $  19,000.000 

1777  — 13,000,000 

1778 63,000,000 

1779 140,000,000 

1812 37,000,000 

1837 31,000,000 

1846 20,000,000 

1857 52,000,000 

Total $381,000,000 

In  addition  to  the  above,  under  Act  of  Congress  in 
1812,  $43,000,000  in  bonds  were  issued.  Of  this  large 
indebtedness,  the  nation,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil 
War,  still  owed  $76,000,000,  and  the  most  of  this  debt 
was  created  in  times  of  peace. 


189 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

UNITED  STATES   MONETARY   HISTORY  DURING   AND  SUC- 
CEEDING  THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

The  vast  sums  required  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
Civil  War  could  not  be  provided  by  taxation  or  by 
direct  loans,  and  the  alternative  was  bonds  or  treas- 
ury notes.  In  the  Senate  the  first  discrimination  was 
made  in  favor  of  the  bondholder  by  inserting  a  clause 
in  an  act  which  was  passed,  providing  for  the  pay- 
ment of  interest  on  bonds  in  coin,  and,  as  Stevens  said, 
"Depreciated  at  once  the  money  which  the  bill  cre- 
ated." 

The  faces  of  the  existing  government  notes  at  that 
time  bore  the  simple  statement  that  the  "United  States 

will  pay  to  bearer   dollars."     Only  a  few 

of  these  notes  were  converted  into  bonds,  and  coin, 
which  was  before  at  a  premium  of  four  and  three- 
fourths  per  cent.,  fell  to  one  per  cent.;  but,  by  the 
middle  of  the  summer  of  1861,  the  premium  on  specie 
began  to  advance,  rising  above  four  per  cent.,  till  in 
June,  1861,  it  was  nine  and  one-fourth  per  cent.,  and 
by  1863  it  was  thirty-four  per  cent. 

President  Lincoln,  in  his  message  to  the  Congress, 
in  December,  1862,  said:  "The  suspension  of  specie 
payment  by  the  banks  soon  after  the  commencement 
of  your  last  session,  made  large  issues  of  United 
States  notes  unavoidable.  In  no  other  way  could 
the  payment  of  troops,  and  the  satisfaction  of  other 
just  demands,  be  so  economically  provided  for.  The 
judicious   legislation   of    Congress,   securing   the   re- 

190 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ceivability  of  these  notes  for  loans  and  internal  du- 
ties, and  making  them  a  legal  tender  for  other  debts, 
has  made  them  a  universal  currency;  and  has  satis- 
fied, partially,  at  least,  and  for  the  time,  the  long- 
felt  want  of  an  uniform  circulating  medium,  saving 
thereby  to  the  people  immense  sums  in  discounts  and 
exchanges." 

The  premium  on  coin  rose  as  high  as  seventy-two 
and  a  half  per  cent,  in  January,  1863,  but  receded  by 
March  to  thirty-nine  per  cent.  Non-interest  bear- 
ing notes  ("greenbacks")  were  issued  on  the  credit 
of  the  United  States,  and  made  a  legal  tender  for  all 
debts,  public  and  private,  except  import  duties  and  in- 
terest on  the  public  debt. 

By  June  30th,  1864,  there  were  in  existence  $650,- 
000,000  legal  tender  notes  of  all  kinds.  The  interest- 
bearing  notes  were  not  all  in  circulation,  being  held  in 
banks  as  reserves. 

In  1863  the  premium  on  gold  rose  to  eighty-six 
per  cent.  The  Congress  passed  an  act,  June  17th, 
1864,  forbidding  all  sales  of  gold  on  foreign  exchange 
on  "time"  contracts,  and  prohibited  brokers  from  sell- 
ing gold  anywhere  except  at  their  offices,  thereby 
hoping  to  break  up  the  *'gold  exchange."  The  result, 
contrary  to  all  expectation,  was  a  rise  in  the  premium 
to  the  enormous  figures  of  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  per  cent.  The  act  was  repealed  July  6th,  1864. 
This  short  period  sufficed  to  convince  the  Congress 
of  the  futility  of  attempting  to  regulate  the  premium 
on  gold  by  legislation.  But  it  only  convinces  us  of 
the  existence  of  a  gold  syndicate,  the  strength  of 
whose  alarming  power  may  be  traced  to  the  discrim- 
inatory clause  inserted  by  the  Senate,  making  the  in- 
terest on  bonds  "payable  in  coin,"  which  was  after- 
wards to  be  changed  to  "payable  in  gold." 

The  immense  debt  of  the  United  States  was  first 
191 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

made  a  "coin"  obligation,  meaning  both  silver  and 
gold,  which  had  been  defined  by  act  of  the  Congress 
as  "lawful  money  of  the  United  States." 

The  national  indebtedness  rested  an  awful  burden 
upon  the  people,  which  they  would  have  to  pay,  prin- 
cipal and  interest.  The  advancing  premiums  of  gold 
show  that  the  "gold  conspiracy"  was  taking  shape, 
and  the  ruinous  tax  on  production,  as  measured  in 
gold,  which  would  in  the  future  be  required  of  the 
people  in  the  payment  of  the  national  debt,  was 
clearly  indicated. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  the  national  debt  had 
grown  from  $76,000,000  to  the  almost  inconceivable 
sum  of  $2,845,900,000.  Of  this  colossal  debt,  $1,109,- 
600,000  was  for  bonds.  The  annual  interest  on  these 
bonds  and  on  the  interest-bearing  legal  tender  notes, 
was  $150,000,000,  or  twice  the  amount  of  the  national 
debt  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War.  Of  the  total 
debt  at  the  close  of  the  war,  $433,200^00  was  in  the 
non-interest  bearing  legal  tender  notes.  Of  course 
the  Government  was  pledged  to  their  redemption ;  but 
since  they  drew  no  interest,  there  was  no  chance  for 
th  t  portion  of  the  national  debt  to  increase.  How 
could  there  be  any  breach  of  good  faith  on  the  part 
of  the  Government  for  their  non-redemption  when  no 
such  demand  was  made  by  the  people?  These  Uni- 
ted States  notes  ("greenbacks")  had  become  the  peo- 
ples' money.  There  was  no  interest  to  pay  on  them. 
Why  then  should  the  Government  force  their  redemp- 
tion, and  convert  what  had  been  the  peoples'  money 
and  a  non-interest  bearing  debt  into  an  interest-bear- 
ing debt,  which  the  people  would  have  to  pay? 

What  difference  to  the  advantage  of  the  govern- 
ment between  the  people  holding  this  obligation 
against  it  without  interest,  and  the  bondholders,  with 
interest  to  pay?    The  Government  could  only  get  the 

192 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

specie  for  their  redemption  by  selling  bonds,  and 
the  proposition  was  therefore  to  change  the  debt  from 
non-interest  bearing  notes,  used  by  the  people  as  their 
money,  to  interest-bearing  bonds  which  could  not 
be  used  by  the  people  as  money. 

For  the  Government  to  have  redeemed  these  notes 
with  specie  received  from  customs  duties  and  in- 
ternal revenues  without  the  issuance  of  bonds,  would 
have  been  proper,  at  least  not  objectionable;  but  the 
issuance  of  bonds  to  secure  their  redemption  was  a 
fraud  and  an  injustice  upon  the  people.  Can  the  reader 
answer  the  question,  why  bondholders  are  preferable 
creditors  to  the  people? 

Secretary  McCuUoch,  in  1866,  estimated  that  $350,- 
000^000  in  United  States  bonds  were  held  abroad.  By 
1867,  the  United  States  notes  (greenbacks),  outstand- 
ing, had  been  reduced  to  $356,000,000.  President 
Johnson,  in  his  message  to  the  Congress,  in  1867, 
favored  measures  looking  to  the  resumption  of  coin 
payments,  but  he  added,  "a  reduction  of  our  paper 
circulating  medium  need  not  necessarily  follow."  In 
the  same  message  he  spoke  of  the  injustice  of  paying 
the  bondholders  in  coin,  and  other  creditors  in  depre- 
ciated paper. 

Secretary  John  Sherman,  in  1868,  in  deference  to 
public  opinion,  expressed  the  propriety  of  paying 
bonds  in  "greenbacks"  and  stopping  further  contrac- 
tion. In  February,  1868,  an  act  was  passed  prohibit- 
ing further  contraction  of  the  currency  by  retiring 
notes. 

National  honor  demanded  the  payment  of  the  na- 
tional debt  according  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the 
laws  under  which  it  was  contracted;  but  neither  na- 
tional honor  nor  sound  economic  policy  demanded  the 
substitution  of  coin  obligations  for  obligations  that  had 
not  that  stipulation. 

193 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

From  1866  to  1868,  two  years,  the  amount  of  Uni- 
ted States  bonds  held  abroad  had  more  than  dou- 
bled, increasing  from  $350,000,000  in  1866,  to  $850,- 
000,000  in  1868.  The  interest  on  this,  about  $24,000,- 
000  a  year,  paid  in  coin,  constituted  a  large  drain 
on  the  country's  specie,  to  say  nothing  of  the  pay- 
ment of  the  principal. 

President  Johnson,  in  his  message,  December, 
1868,  said :  "It  may  be  assumed  that  the  holders  of 
our  securities  have  already  received  upon  their  bonds 
a  larger  amount  than  their  original  investment,  meas- 
ured by  a  gold  standard.  Upon  this  statement  of 
facts,  it  would  seem  but  just  and  equitable  that  the 
six  per  cent,  interest  now  paid  by  the  Government, 
should  be  applied  to  the  reduction  of  the  principal  in 
semi-annual  installments,  which  in  sixteen  years  and 
eight  months  would  liquidate  the  entire  national  debt. 
Six  per  cent,  in  gold,  at  the  present  rate,  would  be 
equal  to  nine  in  currency,  and  equivalent  to  the  pay- 
ment of  the  debt  one  and  a  half  times  in  a  fraction 
less  than  seventeen  years.  This,  in  connection  with 
all  the  other  advantages  derived  from  their  invest- 
ment, would  afford  to  the  public  creditors  a  fair  and 
liberal  compensation  for  the  use  of  their  capital,  and 
with  this  they  should  be  satisfied.  The  lessons  of  the 
past  admonish  the  lender  that  it  is  not  well  to  be  over- 
anxious in  exacting  from  the  borrower  rigid  compli- 
ance with  the  letter  of  the  bond." 

Read  that  statement  of  President  Johnson  again, 
and  see  how  fair  it  is.  Make  the  calculation  for  your- 
self, and  prove  that  it  is  correct.  If  this  assumption 
was  true  that  the  bondholders  had  "already  received 
upon  their  bonds  a  larger  amount  than  their  original 
investment,"  then  his  proposition  to  compute  the 
amount  of  interest  for  sixteen  years  and  eight  months 
at  six  per  cent,  in  gold,  to  assume  that  as  the  debt, 

194 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

and  to  pay  it  in  semi-annual  installments,  would  have 
been  equivalent  to  paying  the  principal  two  and  one- 
half  times. 

His  mention  of  "all  the  other  advantages  derived 
from  their  investment,"  meaning  the  immense  lead  it 
would  give  them  in  owning  and  controlling  business 
enterprises,  with  the  large  sum  of  money  they  would 
thus  obtain  from  the  Government,  was  a  matter  prop- 
erly to  be  considered. 

President  Johnson  was  right,  and  more  than  lib- 
eral, when  tested  by  the  demands  of  justice  and 
equity;  but  for  this,  obloquy  is  still  heaped  upon  his 
name,  and  he  was,  and  is,  denominated  a  repudia- 
tionist. 

No  nation  has  ever  been  burdened  with  debt  as  the 
United  States  has  been  since  the  Civil  War.  No  other 
nation  could  have  so  well  supported  the  burden.  But 
how  long  will  the  people  stand  the  injustice  of  it? 
Added  to  the  wonderful  increase  in  production,  has 
been  the  constant  addition  by  immigration.  Nearly 
every  immigrant  who  comes  has  a  little  money,  and 
the  total  of  it  all  is  a  vast  sum ;  yet  it  has  all  been 
swallowed  up  in  paying  the  interest  on  the  public 
debt;  the  principal  we  still  owe,  after  forty-four 
years.  In  other  words,  the  people  have  paid  more 
than  $7,000,000,000  in  interest  in  the  last  forty-four 
years,  and  practically  still  owe  the  principal.  No 
wonder  we  have  millionaires  and  billionaires,  while 
the  masses  of  the  people  are  pressed  down  with  pov- 
erty. 

A  bill  was  passed  by  the  Congress,  March  3rd,  1869, 
avowedly  to  strengthen  the  public  credit  by  a  declara- 
tion of  the  purpose  of  the  Government  to  pay  all 
bonds  in  coin;  but  President  Johnson  refused  to  ap- 
prove it,  and  the  Congress  having  adjourned  the  same 
day,  it  failed  to  become  a  law. 

195 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

President  Grant,  in  his  inaugural  address,  March 
4th,  1869,  said :  "To  protect  the  national  honor,  every 
dollar  of  government  indebtedness  should  be  paid  in 
gold,  unless  otherwise  expressly  stipulated  in  the  con- 
tract." 

This  is  the  first  public  declaration  for  paying  the 
government  bonds  in  gold  that  we  have  been  able  to 
find.  Without  any  intention  to  reflect  upon  the  per- 
sonal integrity  of  President  Grant,  which  we  regard 
as  unimpeachable,  we  are  nevertheless  still  of  the 
opinion  that  the  gold  conspirators  had  influenced  his 
judgment  by  false  arguments.  The  so-called  "sound 
money"  men  up  to  this  time  had  been  content  to  de- 
mand payment  in  coin.  Why  should  President  Grant 
predicate  the  national  honor  on  gold  payment,  when 
at  the  time  the  silver  dollar  was  worth  more  than  the 
gold  dollar  by  four  cents,  in  the  market? 

The  Congress  in  extra  session  passed  an  act,  March 
1 8th,  1869,  declaring  it  the  purpose  of  the  United 
States  to  pay  its  notes  and  bonds  in  coin  or  the  equiva- 
lent. That  was  as  far  as  the  Congress  was  as  yet 
willing  to  go,  and  no  mention  was  made  of  gold. 

President  Grant,  in  his  message  of  December,  1869, 
said,  "Immediate  resumption,  if  practicable,  would  not 
be  desirable.  It  would  compel  the  debtor  class  to  pay, 
beyond  their  contracts,  the  premium  on  gold  at  the 
date  of  their  purchases,  and  would  bring  bankruptcy 
and  ruin  to  thousands."  This  statement  shows  that 
President  Grant  had  by  this  time  learned  something 
about  the  money  question. 

By  the  Act  of  1868,  $77,000,000  in  "greenbacks" 
had  been  destroyed,  and  the  volume  of  currency  that 
much  reduced.  President  Grant  had  doubtless  seen 
the  effect  of  this  contraction  on  the  common  people, 
and  the  marked  discontent  which  it  wrought. 

The  writer  was  a  living  witness  to  the  conditions 

196 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

immediately  succeeding  the  war,  and  knows  that  the 
years  just  preceding  the  destruction  of  a  large  part  of 
the  United  States  notes  were  marvelously  prosperous 
ones  to  the  people.  Men  were  everywhere  buying 
farms  and  homes,  and  those  who  already  owned  farms, 
encouraged  by  the  prosperous  times,  went  in  debt  for 
stock  and  implements  to  replace  what  the  war  had 
destroyed,  thinking  if  the  prosperous  conditions  con- 
tinued they  could  easily  pay  for  them;  homes  were 
furnished  with  comforts  as  never  before — even 
common  laborers  could  afford  carpets  on  their 
floors.  The  wounds  of  the  war  were  healed  and  for- 
gotten in  the  general  prosperity.  But  the  violent  con- 
traction of  the  currency  changed  all  this  like  a  wither- 
ing blight.  Those  who  had  contracted  debts  owed  just 
as  many  dollars  as  before,  and  they  suddenly  discov- 
ered that  it  was  twice  as  difficult  to  earn  the  dollars. 
Homes  and  farms  went  to  pay  debts,  often  sold  at 
forced  sales,  and  that,  together  with  the  declination 
of  real  estate  values  along  with  the  fall  of  all  other 
values,  caused  them  to  bring  much  less  than  their 
actual  worth.  Comforts  were  sacrificed  in  the  homes, 
and  the  faded  and  worn  carpets  on  the  floors  could 
not  be  replaced.  The  widespread  discontent  was  final- 
ly the  means  of  bringing  the  matter  up  in  the  Supreme 
Court.  Some  had  claimed  that  the  legal  tender  qual- 
ity of  the  United  States  notes  was  unconstitutional, 
but  the  Supreme  Court  declared  legal  tender  notes 
constitutional,  in   1872. 


This  brings  our  history  down  to  what  has  been 
termed  the  "Crime   of   '73." 

On  February  12th,  1873,  the  Congress  passed  an 
Act  revising  the  coinage  laws,  which  eliminated  the 
silver  dollar,  and  made  the  gold  dollar  the  unit  of 
value.    Thus  practically  one-half  of  the  money  volume 

197 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

was  struck  down  at  one  blow.  The  result  was  a  panic 
ruinous  to  the  debtor  class,  of  which  it  is  perhaps 
sufficient  to  say  it  was  in  all  respects  like  the  disas- 
trous panics  of  1837  and  1857. 

It  was  discovered  that  during  the  panic,  the  legal 
tender  notes  were  hoarded  the  same  as  gold;  proving 
them  to  be  the  best  currency  which  had  ever  been  de- 
vised. In  1873,  the  market  value  of  the  silver  dollar 
was  three  cents  higher  than  the  gold  dollar.  Gold  is 
shown  then  to  have  been  the  cheaper  metal,  although 
far  less  in  volume  than  silver.  Up  to  that  time,  from 
the  beginning  of  the  government,  silver  had  unvary- 
ingly been  the  appreciated  metal,  and  not  the  de- 
preciated. 

Representative  Kelly,  from  Pennsylvania,  one  of  the 
main  leaders  for  the  adoption  of  the  gold  standard  and 
the  demonetization  of  silver,  reported  the  bill  from 
committee  where  it  had  had,  as  he  said,  "as  careful 
attention  as  I  have  ever  known  a  committee  to  bestow 
on  any  measure."  The  very  same  man,  Kelly,  a  few 
years  later,  publicly  declared  that  he  "did  not  know 
that  the  bill  omitted  the  silver  dollar,"  and  Stewart, 
another  one  of  the  leaders  in  putting  the  bill  through, 
afterwards  declared  that  "the  bill  was  passed  surrepti- 
tiously," denouncing  it  as  the  "Crime  of  '73." 

Representative  Kelly,  who  stated,  when  reporting 
the  bill  that  it  had  "been  studied  by  the  Coinage  Com- 
mittee line  for  line,  and  word  for  word,"  and  who 
himself  made  the  announcement  to  the  House  that 
"the  bill  contemplated  establishing  the  single  gold 
standard,"  declared  four  years  later  that  "the  demone- 
tization of  silver  was  an  unexplained  mystery"  to  him. 
Kelly,  Stewart,  and  the  others,  who  were  leaders 
in  passing  the  Bill  in  the  Congress,  should  have  known 
what  they  were  legislating  upon,  and  the  plea  of  ig- 
norance which  they  afterwards  put  up  was  an  added 

198 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

offense;  a  reflection  either  on  their  honesty  or  their 
intelHgence,  and  an  insult  to  the  pubHc. 

In  obedience  to  popular  demand  the  Congress 
passed  an  Act  in  April,  1874,  fixing  the  maximum 
amount  of  "greenbacks"  at  $400,000,000,  and  national 
bank  notes  at  the  same  amount ;  but  President  Grant 
vetoed  the  Act,  April  22nd,  1874.  The  Congress 
passed  another  Act,  June  20th,  1874,  limiting  the 
maximum  of  ''greenbacks"  to  $382,000,000,  and 
providing  for  the  redistribution  of  bank  issues  and  the 
substitution  of  a  five  per  cent,  redemption  fund  to 
be  retained  in  the  Treasury  for  the  reserve  required 
on  circulation.  It  also  authorized  the  retirement  of 
circulation  by  deposits  of  legal  tender  notes  in  the 
United  States  Treasury.  The  Treasury  was  there- 
after required  to  redeem  all  national  bank  notes,  upon 
presentation. 

Resumption  of  specie  payment  was  decreed  by  Act 
of  the  Congress  in  1875.  There  was  only  one  way 
for  the  Government  to  resume  specie  payment,  and 
that  was  to  get  the  gold  necessary  for  the  resumption, 
by  the  sale  of  bonds. 

Secretary  John  Sherman  declared  in  his  report  in 
1880  that  "the  Treasury  notes  in  form,  security,  and 
convenience  were  the  best  circulating  medium  known 
— a  burdenless  debt;  that  the  legal  tender  quality 
was  not  necessary  to  make  them  useful,  and  even 
deprived  of  that,  they  would  still  be  the  favorite 
money  of  the  people."  In  his  last  statement,  how- 
ever, with  regard  to  the  legal  tender  quality  not  be- 
ing necessary,  he  was  wrong;  for  it  was  exactly  that 
which  made  them  money.  Of  course,  the  legal  tender 
notes  were  merely  promises  to  pay  on  demand,  but 
they,  the  "greenbacks"  drew  no  interest ;  as  Secretary 
Sherman  said,  they  were  "a  burdenless  debt,"  and  the 
people  were  satisfied  with  them  as  money. 

199 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

In  the  Political  Campaign  of  1888,  the  Republicans 
denounced  the  attempt  of  the  Democrats  to  demone- 
tize silver!  This,  indeed,  sounds  strange  to  us  now, 
when  we  know  that  it  was  a  Republican  Congress 
that  had  before  that  demonetized  silver,  and  that  the 
same  party  now  boasts  that  it  adopted  the  gold 
standard. 

It  has  been  held  by  the  highest  courts  that  "con- 
tracts to  pay  money  are  obligations  to  pay  that  which 
is  money  when  payment  is  to  be  made."  As  the  states 
are  prohibited  by  the  National  Constitution  from 
making  anything  else  but  coin  a  legal  tender,  it  fol- 
lows as  a  logical  deduction,  that  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment alone  has  that  power.  The  power  to  say  what 
is  or  what  is  not  money  is  vested  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States. 

The  coinage  laws  of  1834  changed  the  weight  of 
gold  coins,  and  yet  the  Act  was  held  by  the  courts 
to  be  constitutional. 

"Every  contract  to  pay  money  is  subject  to  the  con- 
stitutional right  of  the  Congress  over  money." 

Bankrupt  laws  passed  by  the  states  are  unconstitu- 
tional because  they  impair  the  validity  of  contracts; 
but  national  bankrupt  laws  are  held  to  be  constitu- 
tional, because  the  Congress  has  the  right  to  pass 
them,  under  the  "general  welfare  clause"  of  the  Con- 
stitution. The  logical  and  legal  conclusion  is  that 
Congress  has  the  power  to  issue  its  own  bills  of  cred- 
it in  such  forms  and  with  such  qualities  of  currency 
as  accord  with  the  usage  of  sovereign  governments. 
The  power  to  confer  the  legal  tender  quality  is  in- 
cident to  the  sovereign  power  of  the  Congress. 


200 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 


CHAPTER  XVni 

NATIONAL  BANKING  SYSTEM — MONETARY  COMMISSIONS 
FRAUD  OF   1893-94 

Bank  currency  in  the  United  States  from  1838  to 
1 86 1  was  issued  solely  under  State  authority.  Lax 
legislation,  and  want  of  proper  supervision,  caused 
bank  notes  to  vary  greatly  in  value;  besides,  the 
amount  of  counterfeiting  was  appalling.  Secretary 
Chase  recommended  a  National  Currency  System, 
based  on  government  bonds.  A  lengthy  measure  for 
this  purpose  was  introduced  by  Representative  Spauld- 
ing,  of  New  York,  in  the  winter  of  1861-62.  It  was 
not  believed  the  good  effects  hoped  for  in  the  Bill 
could  be  realized  in  time  to  meet  the  Government's 
necessity,  hence  the  measure  went  over  till  the  suc- 
ceeding session,  and  a  legal  tender  Government  note 
issue  was  made  instead. 

Chase  persisted  in  urging  upon  the  Congress  the 
two  advantages  of  his  plan — a  market  for  bonds,  and 
a  uniform  currency  permanent  in  character. 

The  National  Banking  Law  passed  both  houses  of 
the  Congress,  and  was  approved  February  25,  1863, 
one  year  after  the  approval  of  the  Legal  Tender  Act. 
A  considerable  number  of  Republicans,  and  practically 
all  the  Democrats,  opposed  the  measure.  The  debates 
in  the  Congress  showed  that  it  was  the  intention  to 
supplant  the  State  bank  circulation,  hence  the  source 
of  the  opposition. 

An  act  was  passed  March  30th,  1863,  which  put  a 

201 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

tax  of  two  per  cent,  on  State  bank  note  issues,  double 
the  tax  imposed  on  national  bank  currency,  the  pur- 
pose of  which  was  to  force  the  State  banks  to  na- 
tionalize. 

Under  the  National  Banking  Act,  each  bank  or- 
ganized under  its  provisions,  and  each  existing  State 
bank  that  desired  nationalization  was  required  to  de- 
posit in  the  United  States  Treasury  United  States 
bonds  bearing  not  less  than  five  per  cent,  interest,  to 
the  amount  of  one-third  of  the  capital,  (but  in  no 
case  less  than  $30,000)  to  be  held  to  secure  circula- 
tion, which  might  be  issued  to  the  extent  of  ninety 
per  cent,  of  the  market  value  of  the  bonds.  The  Act 
provided  that  notes  might  be  issued  in  denominations 
from  one  dollar  to  one  hundred  dollars,  and  were  to 
bear  on  their  face  the  certificate  that  bonds  were  held 
by  the  United  States  to  secure  them.  It  was  further 
provided  that  the  notes  should  be  redeemable  on  de- 
mand in  lawful  money,  and  a  legal  tender  for  all  dues 
public  and  private,  except  customs  duties,  interest  on 
the  public  debt,  and  their  own  redemption.  The 
volume  of  national  bank  notes  was  limited  to 
$300,000,000. 

An  Act  of  March  3rd,  1865,  imposed  a  tax  of  ten 
per  cent,  on  the  note  issues  of  State  banks,  which 
caused  their  disappearance  from  circulation,  and  soon 
afterwards  the  national  bank  note  issues  reached  the 
limit  of  $300,000,000;  but  unfortunately,  the  most  of 
it  was  held  in  the  Eastern  States,  which  caused  the 
cry  of  monopoly  to  be  raised. 

The  ten  per  cent,  tax  on  State  bank  notes  had  de- 
stroyed them  as  currency,  and  as  nearly  all  the  na- 
tional bank  notes  were  held  in  the  East,  the  South 
and  the  West  suflfered  for  a  want  of  sufficiency  of 
circulating  medium. 

There  arose  in   1867,  a  substantial  party  that  fa- 

202 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

vored  the  substitution  of  United  States  legal  tender 
notes  for  bank  notes;  and  for  a  period  of  ten  suc- 
cessive years  it  looked  as  if  the  national  banking 
system  would  fail.  The  so-called  "sound  money" 
advocates  had  on  their  hands  a  gigantic  struggle. 
The  tactics  which  they  adopted  was  to  placate  the 
opposition  with  promises,  and  thereby  secure  delay, 
while  every  agency  was  adroitly  directed  in  remould- 
ing public  sentiment  and  strengthening  their  position. 

An  international  monetary  conference  was  held  in 
Paris,  in  1867.  It  was  dominated  by  the  gold  con- 
spirators, and  recommended  the  adoption  of  the  single 
gold  standard,  and  an  international  coin.  There  was 
good  sense  in  the  latter  recommendation,  as  we  will 
attempt  further  on  to  show. 

The  Senate  Finance  Committee,  June  9th,  1868,  in 
a  report  recommended  the  coinage  of  a  dollar  three 
and  a  half  cents  less  in  value  than  the  existing  one, 
thus  making  it  equal  to  five  francs.  It  was  expected 
also  that  the  British  sovereign  would  be  so  modified 
as  to  make  it  exactly  equal  to  twenty-five  francs,  or 
five  of  the  proposed  dollars;  but  nothing  came  of  it. 

During  the  period  from  1861  to  1872,  the  produc- 
tion of  silver  in  the  United  States  steadily  increased, 
but  owing  to  the  premium  on  silver,  practically  all  of 
it  was  exported. 

Germany  adopted  the  gold  standard  in  1870;  im- 
mediately following,  France  suspended  silver  coinage, 
and  the  countries  forming  the  Latin  Union,  Italy, 
Switzerland,  Belgium  and  Greece,  followed  suit; 
which  caused  a  fall  in  the  commercial  value  of  silver. 
Contemporaneously  with  these  events,  the  Congress 
was  at  work  upon  the  revision  of  the  mint  laws,  which 
resulted  in  the  Act  of  1873,  making  the  gold  dollar 
the  monetary  standard,  and  demonetizing  silver. 

The  contention  of  the  gold  standard  advocates  that 

20^ 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  fall  in  the  market  price  of  silver  was  due  to  over 
production  of  that  metal,  was  refuted  by  the  Mone- 
tary Commission  appointed  in  August  1876  "to  en- 
quire into  the  whole  subject."  The  Commission  re- 
ported that  the  fall  in  the  price  of  silver  was  due  to 
its  practical  demonetization  in  so  many  countries,  and 
not  to  increased  production.  The  double  standard 
was  advocated  by  the  commission  as  "having  a  com- 
pensatory influence,  so  that  prices  would  not  be  vio- 
lently depressed,  as  was  sure  to  follow  if  the  demone- 
tization were  persisted  in;  and  the  claim  was  made 
that  "the  entire  volume  of  coin  money  governed 
prices,"  and  that  "to  reduce  the  volume  reduced 
prices,  which,  as  history  showed,  was  more  disastrous 
than  war,  pestilence  or  famine." 

Attention  was  also  called  by  the  Commission  to 
the  enormous  debt  of  the  United  States  which  was 
contracted  under  the  double  standard,  and  payable  by 
the  terms  of  the  law,  in  silver  or  gold,  at  the  option 
of  the  Government ;  and  it  was  shown  that  "the  propo- 
sition to  pay  it  in  gold  alone  was  to  impose  onerous 
and  oppressive  obligations  upon  the  people." 

It  was  equivalent  to  doubling  the  debt,  the  burden 
of  which  rests  on  the  people;  for  the  only  way  the 
Government  can  raise  money  is  by  taxation,  and  all 
taxation  comes  off  production. 

The  International  Monetary  Conference  of  1878 
dissolved  August  the  24th,  without  results.  The  much 
discussed  question  was  how  to  maintain  the  parity  of 
the  metals,  a  demonstrably  practical  impossibility  un- 
der the  "free  coinage"  system, — a  fact,  however,  ap- 
parently recognized  by  few  economists. 

The  silver  question  remaining  undetermined,  and 
the  conditions  in  France,  Italy,  India  and  other  coun- 
tries becoming  more  serious,  owing  to  the  steadily  di- 
minishing supply  of  gold  and  the  steadily  falling  price 

204 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

of  silver,  opinions  of  many  who  had  helped  to  estab- 
lish the  gold  standard  underwent  a  change.  France 
consented  to  join  the  United  States  in  an  invitation 
to  other  countries  to  join  them  in  another  conference, 
the  purpose  of  which  was  to  "devise  a  system  by 
international  agreement  whereby  both  metals,  gold 
and  silver,  as  bimetalic  money  might  be  used  accord- 
ing to  a  settled  relative  value  of  the  two  metals."  The 
conference  was  called  and  met  in  Paris  in  April,  1881. 
England,  on  account  of  India,  was  seriously  interested, 
and  Germany  was  also  represented.  Eighteen  coun- 
tries sent  delegates.  The  conclusion  reached  was  that 
"the  fall  in  the  price  of  silver  was  injurious,  and  that 
a  fixed  ratio  would  be  beneficial ;  that  an  international 
agreement  for  "free  and  unlimited  coinage"  of  both 
metals  at  a  fixed  ratio  would  cause  and  maintain 
stability;  that  the  most  suitable  ratio  was  fifteen  and 
a  half  to  one. 

This,  England,  France,  Germany  and  the  United 
States,  with  the  concurrence  of  others,  could,  by  con- 
vention, secure,  and  maintain  the  stability  of  the  ratio 
adopted. 

Germany  and  England  declined  to  enter  into  such 
an  agreement.  The  conference,  for  politeness  sake, 
adjourned  to  April  12th,  1882,  to  enable  France  and 
the  United  States  to  work  out  a  plan ;  but  as  it  turned 
out  the  adjournment  was  final. 

During  this  time  the  Treasury  was  not  only  in- 
different in  getting  silver  into  circulation,  it  put  every 
possible  obstacle  in  the  way. 

The  national  bank  currency  being  based  on  Govern- 
ment bond  deposits,  to  pay  off  Government  bonds 
means  retiring  the  national  bank  currency,  leaving  a 
vacuum  for  gold  and  silver. 

The  British  Monetary  Commission  in  1888,  com- 
posed of  twelve  men,  were  unanimous  in  their  reoort 

205 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

as  to  the  causes  which  had  disturbed  the  par  between 
the  metals.  They  said,  "The  action  of  the  Latin 
Union  in  1873  broke  the  Hnk  between  silver  and  gold, 
which  had  kept  the  price  of  the  former,  as  measured 
by  the  latter,  constant  at  about  the  legal  ratio;  and 
when  this  link  was  broken  the  silver  market  was  open 
to  the  influence  of  all  the  factors  which  go  to  effect 
the  price  of  a  commodity.  These  factors  happen, 
since  1873,  to  have  operated  in  the  direction  of  a  fall 
in  the  gold  price  of  that  metal,  and  the  frequent  fluc- 
tuations in  its  value  are  accounted  for  by  the  fact 
that  the  market  has  become  fully  sensitive  to  the  other 
influences  to  which  we  have  called  attention  above," 
which  means,  in  fewer  and  plainer  words,  that  when 
silver  was  demonetized  it  became  simply  a  commodity ; 
and  as  gold  was  the  only  real  money  left,  the  silver 
commodity  had  to  be  priced  in  gold.  The  commission 
was  equally  divided  for  and  against  the  gold  stand- 
ard ;  six  were  for  maintaining  the  gold  standard,  and 
six  were  for  bimetalism. 

In  the  panic  year  of  1873,  when  New  York  banks 
suspended  cash  payments  and  many  large  business 
houses  failed,  the  United  States  Treasury  attempted 
relief  of  the  situation  by  the  purchase  of  bonds,  and 
the  issuance  of  "greenbacks"  in  reserve — that  is, 
"greenbacks"  that  had  once  been  redeemed  and  re- 
tired. As  before  stated  the  bond  purchases  had  the 
effect  to  retire  national  bank  currency,  which  operated 
to  defeat  the  object  of  the  Treasury.  The  New  York 
banks  lost  $35,000,000  cash,  and  were  compelled  to 
resort  to  clearing  house  certificates,  issued  upon  hy- 
pothecated securities. 

The  United  States  Treasury  has  no  safeguards 
whatever  against  withdrawals  of  gold,  and  hence  ours 
is  the  easiest  market  from  which  other  nations'  neces- 
sities may  be  supplied. 

206 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

In  about  the  year  1S90,  the  fraud  of  drawing  gold 
out  of  the  Treasury  in  payment  of  legal  tender  notes 
was  tentatively  begun,  to  reach  the  maximum  iniquity 
in  1894. 

Presid'ent  Harrison  called  an  international  confer- 
ence on  silver,  which  met  in  Brussels,  November, 
1892.     Twenty   countries   were    represented. 

The  delegates  from  the  United  States  were  in- 
structed to  work  for  international  bimetalism,  or  fail- 
ing in  that,  action  tending  to  a  largely  increased  mo- 
netary use  of  silver,  to  arrest  depreciation. 

The  European  banks,  where  during  all  the  years 
the  products  of  our  gold  mines  had  gone,  were  rich 
in  gold,  while  the  United  States  was  losing  the  little 
it  had  left.  The  conference  adjourned  in  January, 
until  May,  1893;  but  never  reassembled.  Immediate- 
ly following  the  fruitless  w^ork  of  Harrison's  mone- 
tary commission,  came  the  panic  of  1893,  precipitated, 
as  has  always  been  the  case,  by  general  liquidation. 
Reserves  of  the  New  York  banks  fell  below  par. 
Money  on  call  loans  rose  to  seventy-four  per  cent., 
and  time  loans  could  hardly  be  obtained.  Outstand- 
ing loans  were  collected  wherever  possible,  the  money 
hoarded,  and  a  currency  famine  ensued;  premiums 
were  paid  for  any  kind  of  currency  as  high  as  four 
per  cent.,  even  en  silver  dollars.  Banks  in  the  prin- 
cipal Eastern  cities  curtailed  cash  payments,  Clearing 
House  certificates  were  resorted  to,  as  well  as  cash- 
iers' checks,  and  due  bills  from  manufacturers  were 
used  as  money.  Fifteen  thousand  individuals  and 
business  concerns  failed  or  suspended,  with  liabilities 
aggregating   $374,000,000. 

As  before  noted,  the  International  Conference  on 
silver  failed  to  reassemble.  The  British  Government 
closed  the  mints  of  India  to  the  coinage  of  silver. 
Silver  fell  to  seventy-eight  cents  per  ounce. 

207 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

John  A.  Stewart,  speaking  for  the  bankers  of  New 
York  to  Secretary  Carlisle,  declared  that  they  had 
anticipated  the  interview,  and  that  they  were  prepared 
to  take  the  new  Government  bonds.*  Of  course  they 
were  prepared.  A  carefully  planned  scheme  of  the 
gold  syndicate  had  been  successfully  carried  through, 
the  principal  feature  of  which  was  to  drain  the  Treas- 
ury of  gold  by  the  presentation  of  legal  tender  notes. 
The  mockery  of  redeeming  them  in  gold  and  putting 
them  out  in  circulation  again,  to  be  returned  to  the 
Treasury  for  other  like  redemptions,  was  pursued 
by  the  second  Cleveland  administration,  till  over 
$300,000,000  of  legal  tender  notes  (''greenbacks") 
had  been  redeemed  in  gold,  of  which  more  than 
$172,000,000  had  been  paid  out  in  that  year,  1894. 

This  transaction  will  stand  in  history  as  the  most 
colossal  fraud  of  the  century.  The  Treasury  was 
emptied  of  its  gold,  and  in  order  to  maintain  the  legal 
reserve,  it  was  necessary  to  issue  bonds.  This  was 
what  the  gold  syndicate  had  worked  to  secure;  and 
after  the  fraud  had  been  successfully  consummated, 
they  had  the  bonds,  and  still  had  most  of  the  gold. 
In  1895,  President  Cleveland,  through  his  secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  made  a  contract  with  the  Morgan 
Syndicate  to  get   gold   for   Government  bonds. 

Mr.  Morgan,  who  acted  for  the  syndicate,  agreed 
to  take  no  more  gold  from  the  Treasury  with  United 
States  notes;  to  actually  import  half  the  sum  of  gold 
contracted  for,  and  that  they  would  do  all  in  their 
power  to  prevent  exports  of  gold  during  the  period 
of   the  contract. 

The  first  part  of  this  agreement  may  be  taken  as 
proof  that  the  syndicate  had  been  extracting  gold 
from  the  Treasury  by  the  presentation  of  legal  ten- 

•  Referring  to  Secretary  Carlisle's  visit  to  the  New  York  banks. 
208 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

der  notes,  and  the  last  part  is  an  admission  that  it 
controlled  the  exports  and  imports  of  gold.  The 
Rothschilds  composed  the  English  end  of  the  syndi- 
cate, and  it  was  managed  at  this  end  by  J.  P.  Morgan, 
who  made  the  contract.  The  syndicate,  showed  un- 
expected liberality  in  that  it  furnished  the  Government 
$16,000,000  more  gold  than  was  called  for  in  the  con- 
tract; but  on  the  other  hand  its  promise  to  prevent 
the  exportation  of  gold  was  not  kept,  and  in  the 
year    1896,   $86,000,000  gold  was   exported. 

The  gold  production  of  the  world  since  1891  had 
steadily  increased,  especially  in  the  United  States,  but 
was  being  exported  from  the  United  States  faster  than 
it  was  produced.  Austria  and  Russia  had  at  last 
adopted  the  gold  standard,  and  were  actively  accumu- 
lating gold.  President  Cleveland  and  his  secretary, 
Carlisle,  asked  the  Congress  to  provide  for  the  can- 
cellation of  the  legal  tender  notes.  President  Cleve- 
land very  forcibly  urged  that  they  be  funded  into 
bonds.  The  conduct  of  the  Treasury  in  the  Cleveland 
administration  in  paying  gold  for  legal  tender  notes, 
when  the  silver  dollar  was  by  law  also  full  tender, 
and  when  the  acts  creating  the  notes  stipulated  coin 
payments,  cannot  for  any  reason  be  excused  or  de- 
fended. We  prefer  to  think,  however,  that  it  was 
financial  stupidity  rather  than  dishonesty. 

The  payment  of  gold  for  Treasury  notes,  and  the 
sale  of  bonds  to  buy  more  gold,  enhanced  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  gold,  and  enormously  increased  the 
obligations  of  debtors  having  deferred  payments  to 
make.  By  law,  silver  was  still  full  tender  money; 
but  the  practical  disregard  of  the  law  by  the  Cleve- 
land administration  had  the  effect  to  demonetize  sil- 
ver, and  the  unsatisfactory  conditions  were  caused  by 
concentrating  upon  one  metal  only,  the  measuring  of 
value  and  debt  paying  power. 

209 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

Public  dissatisfaction  with  the  law  of  1873,  which 
demonetized  the  silver  dollar,  caused  its  repeal  by 
statutory  enactment;  but  the  practice  and  policy  of 
each  administration  since  then  has  been  to  recognize 
the  gold  standard.  If  we  had  honest  bimetaHsm,  and 
the  alternative  existed  of  paying  the  Government's 
obligations  in  either  metal,  the  inordinate  enhancement 
of  one  or  the  other  would  be  neutralized  if  not  pre- 
vented. 

The  gold  standard  favors  a  credit  media  of  ex- 
change, so  that  what  the  people  have  to  use  as  money 
is  not  real  money,  but  only  promises  to  pay.  The 
larger  the  credit  media  of  exchange,  the  easier  it  is 
to   force   liquidation. 

The  Cleveland  administration  issued  $262,000,000 
in  bonds  to  get  gold  to  pay  the  legal  tender  notes 
which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  were  not  paid  for  at 
all,  but  put  back  in  circulation,  to  remain  an  obliga- 
tion against  the  Government.  These  bonds,  if  held 
till  maturity,  meant  a  further  payment  of  interest  of 
$379,000,000,  principal  and  interest  totaling  $641,- 
000,000,  and  the  notes,  which  by  as  flagrantly  dis- 
honest a  trick  as  was  ever  conceived,  had  been  made 
the  excuse  for  it,  still  outstanding  and  unpaid. 

This  enormous  increase  of  the  national  debt  was 
piled  up  on  the  people  in  a  time  of  profound  peace; 
— a  burden  fastened  upon  them  without  any  just  con- 
sideration. Just  analyze  this  a  little.  Three  hundred 
million  dollars  United  States  legal  tender  notes,  which 
not  only  constituted  "a  burdenless  debt"  because  non- 
interest  bearing,  they  were  the  peoples'  money;  by 
the  connivance  of  the  gold  syndicate,  and  the  folly, 
if  not  the  crime,  of  the  administration,  converted  into 
an  interest  bearing  debt,  the  interest  on  which  amount- 
ing to  $100,000,000  more  than  the  principal.  This 
debt  was  absolutely  created  by  dishonest  manipula- 

210 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

tion.  When  it  was  all  over,  the  United  States  notes 
were  in  circulation  as  before,  the  people  were  $641,- 
000,000  worse  off,  the  gold  syndicate  held  against  the 
Government  an  enormous  bonded  debt,  and  had  al- 
ready gotten  back  the  larger  portion  of  the  gold  which 
it  paid  for  the  bonds.  We  have  dwelt  at  length  upon 
this  transaction  because  the  gigantic  fraud  of  the 
thing  staggers  credulity. 

The  gold  syndicate  possesses  even  greater  power 
today  than  they  did  then,  but  they  have  not  since 
attempted  to  play  the  same  trick  in  the  same  way; 
because  they  know  very  well  that  the  people  would 
not   stand   a   repetition   of  it. 

The  Act  of  '73  made  the  gold  dollar  the  unit  of 
value,  and  demonetized  the  silver  dollar.  Subsequent 
acts  have  claimed  to  remonetize  the  silver  dollar  and 
restore  its  legal  tender  quality;  but  that  part  of  the 
Act  of  '73  making  the  gold  dollar  the  standard  unit 
of  value  has  never  been  repealed.  That  fact,  together 
with  the  practice  and  policy  of  subsequent  adminis- 
trations, has  had  the  effect  to  put  silver  on  the  level 
with  paper  currency  as  a  subsidiary  money. 

The  agitation  for  international  bimetalism  was  not 
expected  to  secure  the  same;  but  it  did  secure  the 
purpose  intended,  of  quieting  the  demands  of  the 
public  till  the  time  was  favorable  to  fasten  the  gold 
standard  on  the  country,  irrevocably.  The  monetary 
commissions  were  employed  to  the  same  end. 

There  was  a  Monetary  Convention,  composed  of 
prominent  bankers,  held  in  Indianapolis  in  1897.  They 
declared  for  the  gold  dollar  as  the  standard  of  value, 
but  claimed  that  this  could  and  should  be  done  without 
affecting  the  legal  tender  quality  of  the  silver  dollar. 
They  advocated  further,  the  establishment  of  a  bureau 
of  issue  and  redemption,  which  should  hold  a  twenty- 
five  oer  cent,  gold  reserve  for  the  redemption  of  legal 

211 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

tender  notes;  this  reserve  to  be  maintained  by  the 
issue  of  three  per  cent,  gold  bonds,  whenever  neces- 
sary; silver  dollars  as  well  as  legal  tender  notes, 
to  be  redeemed  in  gold.  They  recommended  that 
$50,000,000  of  the  legal  tender  notes,  when  redeemed, 
be  cancelled,  and  thereafter  cancelled  in  amounts  equal 
to  the  increase  of  the  national  bank  circulation,  and 
after  five  years  the  remainder  to  be  cancelled  in  five 
equal  annual  installments,  and  then  all  outstanding 
notes  to  cease  having  legal  tender  power;  the  silver 
bullion  in  the  Treasury  to  be  sold  for  gold,  to  maintain 
the  reserve.  A  bill  embodying  these  provisions  was 
introduced  in  the  Congress,  but  no  action  was  taken. 

Silver  lost  its  commanding  popular  interest  on  ac- 
count of  the  Spanish-American  War,  and  the  gold 
standard  advocates  hastened  to  take  advantage  of  con- 
ditions to  strengthen  their  position.  To  meet  the  ex- 
penses of  the  war,  $200,000,000  in  three  per  cent, 
bonds  were  issued,  and  placed  at  par.  The  Act  of 
1900  declared  the  gold  dollar  to  be  the  standard  and 
unit  of  value,  and  all  forms  of  money  issued  or  coined 
by  the  United  States  to  be  maintained  at  a  parity 
therewith  by  the   Secretary   of  the  Treasury. 

Referring  back  to  the  Mint  Act  of  1834,  a  ratio  was 
then  made  undervaluing  silver,  with  the  result  that  in 
a  decade  the  silver  in  the  country  was  all  exported. 

In  1853,  the  ratio  was  again  changed,  reducing  the 
amount  of  fine  silver  in  fractional  coins,  but  left  un- 
disturbed the  silver  dollar  unit,  371.25  grains  of  pure 
silver. 

One  of  the  incongruous  constitutional  constructions 
was  this: — ^Under  the  United  States  constitution,  the 
states  have  no  power  to  coin  money  or  emit  bills  of 
credit;  but  in  the  establishment  of  State  banks, 
they  conferred  upon  corporations  the  right  de- 
nied to  the  states,  themselves,  by  the  Constitution,  that 

212 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

of  issuing  bills  of  credit.  How  could  the  states  con- 
stitutionally confer  upon  corporations  a  right  which 
they,  the  states,  did  not  constitutionally  possess?  The 
contention  that  they  had  the  power  under  the  Consti- 
tution is  a  gross  absurdity.  The  Federal  Government 
has  the  power  under  the  Constitution  to  emit  bills  of 
credit,  and  further,  we  do  not  question  its  privilege  to 
delegate  that  power  to  a  corporation  as  the  Govern- 
ment's agent,  as  it  did  do  in  the  establishment  of  the 
first  and  second  United  States  banks;  the  only  ques- 
tion is,  was  to  do  so  necessary  or  wise? 

The  Government  has  not  hesitated  to  issue  Treas- 
ury notes  in  times  of  the  exigencies  of  wars  and  pan- 
ics. No  matter  how  much  the  "sound  money"  theo- 
rists declaim  against  it,  at  those  times  it  has  proved 
to  be  the  salvation  of  the  people. 

The  American  people  appear  to  have  a  preference 
for  paper  money,  on  account  of  its  convenience.  The 
public  clamor  for  the  retention  of  the  "greenbacks," 
in  circulation  had  the  effect  to  stop  their  cancellation, 
and  $346,681,016  are  still  so  retained;  and  notwith- 
standing the  practical  demonetization  of  silver,  "it  still 
performs  the  bulk  of  the  exchanges  of  the  workaday 
world,  is  chained  to  the  wheels  of  industry,  and  may 
not  leave  its  task." 

The  money  question  is  never  settled,  and  constantly 
remains  a  matter  of  most  serious  concern,  not  to  our 
nation  only,  but  to  every  nation,  for  they  all  have 
the  same  false  system,  the  commodity  theory  of 
money,  and  they  have  all  struggled  with  the  impossible 
task  of  regulating  it  ever  since  the  establishment  of 
"free  coinage"  in  1866,  when  the  control  of  money 
was  unwittingly  surrendered  to  private  hands.  But  of 
all  the  attempted  regulation,  our  own  Government  has 
made  the  most  signal  failure,  for  several  reasons. 

We  believe  that  if  the  first  United  States  bank  had 

21-^ 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

been  continued,  the  Government  could  have  easily 
met  the  expenses  of  subsequent  wars,  would  have  to- 
day been  out  of  debt,  and  far  richer  as  a  nation  than 
what  we  are;  but  inequalities  in  the  distribution  of 
wealth  and  the  benefits  of  production  could  not  have 
been  prevented.  However,  if  the  present  system  of 
money  is  to  be  continued,  there  should  be  a  reversion 
to  first  principles  as  they  were  laid  down  by  Alexander 
Hamilton  in  the  establishment  of  the  first  United 
States  bank.  Those  principles  were  mostly  copied 
from  the  Bank  of  England,  but  they  are  the  soundest 
and  most  equitable  that  can  be  applied  to  the  com- 
modity theory  of  money.  Our  Government,  in  de- 
parting from  those  principles,  has  ever  been  at  sea 
without  sextant,  chart,  or  compass.  The  numerous 
changes  in  our  banking  laws  and  their  application 
have  been  costly  experimentation.  Our  present  na- 
tional banking  system  is  an  experiment.  It  is  based 
upon  the  absurd  theory  of  securing  one  debt  with 
another  debt,  and  calling  it  money.  The  national 
bank  notes  are  primarily  a  debt  against  the  banks, 
while  the  bonds  to  secure  them  is  an  obligation  against 
the  Government. 

As  early  as  1853,  the  Treasury  began,  for  the  relief 
of  the  money  market,  the  purchase  of  United  States 
bonds;  but  the  holders  have  from  time  to  time  taken 
advantage  of  the  public  necessity  by  holding  them 
for  a  high  premium,  and  as  high  as  twenty  eight  per 
cent,  premium  has  been  paid.  Between  individuals, 
when  one  pays  to  another  for  a  note  in  advance  of 
the  time  due,  the  one  who  pays  the  note  demands  a 
discount;  but  the  Government,  when  it  pays  its  notes 
in  advance  of  the  time  due,  pays  a  premium.  Since 
the  establishment  of  the  present  national  banking  sys- 
tem with  a  bond-secured  currency,  the  purchase  of 
bonds  has  the  effect  to  reduce  the  currency  and  defeat 

214 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  Government  object  of  assistance  to  increase  circu- 
lation and  relieve  money  stringency.  The  constant 
demand  of  the  public  is  for  a  more  elastic  currency; 
but  few  seem  to  comprehend  that  a  currency  based  on 
bond  security  cannot  be  elastic. 

We  claim  to  have  a  convertible  currency,  when  it 
is  no  such  thing.  Fully  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  the 
business  of  the  country  is  done  on  a  credit.  How  is 
it  possible  to  redeem  eighty-five  dollars  with  fifteen 
dollars?  That  is  just  where  the  main  part  of  the  mis- 
chief lies.  While  public  confidence  lasts,  everything 
moves  on  smoothly;  bank  notes  loaned  out  pass  on 
from  hand  to  hand  in  current  exchanges,  and  are  not 
presented  at  the  banks  for  redemption;  the  really  in- 
convertible character  of  our  circulating  medium  is 
forgotten;  but  just  let  general  liquidation  once  begin, 
and  all  this  is  soon  made  apparent. 

The  Government's  fiscal  year  ends  the  last  day  of 
June,  and  the  federal  revenues  draw  in  and  lock  up  in 
the  Treasury  a  substantial  part  of  the  money  supply 
just  when  it  is  most  needed  for  moving  the  wheat 
crop,  which  is  the  principal  money  crop  of  the  nation. 

Passing  over  recent  history,  which  is  known  to  all, 
we  will  only  add  that  the  money  panic  of  1907-8, 
which  is  still  >with  us  in  1909,  was  precipitated  by  liq- 
uidation, as  all  the  others  have  been,  and  will  be.  In 
most  instances,  periods  of  unusual  prosperity  have 
just  preceded  money  panics.  Like  good  farmers,  when 
the  money  crop  is  ripe,  the  money  kings  begin  to 
gather  in  as  a  golden  harvest  the  profits  of  produc- 
tion. As  soon  as  the  harvest  is  gathered  in,  public 
confidence  is  gradually  restored,  industry  encouraged, 
and  provisions  made  for  another  crop.  Thus  are 
the  millions  bound  to  the  slavery  of  toil  with  the 
alluring  promise  of  future  reward,  which  is  never 
realized  only  in  the  exceptional  cases  of  a  few  fortu- 

215 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

nate  individuals.  The  greatest  of  the  five  giants; 
Money,  continues  to  devour  the  substance  of  the 
people. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

SCIENTIFIC  MONEY 

We  approach  the  discussion  of  this  subject  with 
great  diffidence.  Volumes  have  been  written  on 
money  by  learned  economists  and  logicians,  and  those 
same  volumes  lie  covered  with  cobwebs,  and  unread,  in 
dusty  libraries.  One  distinguished  economist  wrote 
a  book  on  money,  paid  for  its  publication,  and  then 
gave  copies  to  prominent  men,  government  officials 
and  public  libraries,  and  that  was  the  last  of  it.  Of 
the  books  placed  in  the  libraries,  the  leaves  remain  un- 
cut, and  it  is  doubtful  if  the  copies  given  to  individ- 
uals were  ever  read.  Yet,  among  all  economic  ques- 
tions, that  of  money  is  paramount. 

After  all  the  experimenting,  and  the  almost  end- 
less financial  legislation,  and  tinkering,  in  every  gov- 
ernment today,  the  subject  of  finance  is  the  most 
serious  problem.  There  is  no  other  subject  that 
so  directly  affects  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the 
people,  as  the  subject  of  money;  and  it  is  unfortunate, 
a  matter  of  serious  regret,  that  the  people  have  hith- 
erto given  to  the  subject  of  money  such  little  study, 
except  to  the  means  for  its  accumulation.  If  they 
would  only  investigate,  they  would  discover  that  they 
are  enslaved  by  the  present  system,  and  will  never  be 
free  till  they  have  perfected  a  scientific  system  of 
money. 

Justice  to  the  laboring  classes,  and  to  an  advanc- 
ing civilization,  demands  that  money  be  put  upon  a 

2x6 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

permanent,  equitable,  scientific  basis.  There  is  no  de- 
sire on  the  part  of  just  minded  men  to  weaken  the 
security  of  honest  capital;  but  labor  is  entitled  to  a 
fair  reward,  and  it  is  unjust  that  money  should  be  so 
manipulated  as  to  make  the  toiling  masses  the  servants 
of  a  few.  Certainly  the  time  has  come  when  there 
should  be  enough  of  intelligence  and  patriotism  to 
adopt  an  equitable,  scientific  system  of  money  for  the 
use,  convenience  and  benefit  of  the  whole  people,  in- 
stead of  the  one-sided,  unscientific  system  we  now 
have,  which  is  mainly  used  for  their  despoliation. 

The  clandestine,  insiduous  promotion  of  under- 
handed legislation  should  no  longer  be  tolerated,  and 
the  noisy  clamorers  for  "honest  money"  should  be 
made  to  yield  to  the  will  of  the  people.  Present  con- 
ditions cannot  much  longer  continue  without  imperil- 
ing the  right  of  self  government.  Already  we  have 
a  few  men  in  the  nation  whose  colossal  monetary 
wealth  is  a  matter  of  the  most  serious  concern  and 
alarm. 

''Money  is  the  creature  of  man,  and  is  the  mightiest 
engine  of  power  to  which  he  can  give  intelligent  gui- 
dance. It  has  the  power  to  distribute  the  wealth  and 
blessings  of  production,  the  gratifications  and  oppor- 
tunities of  life,  in  such  a  manner  that  each  individual 
may  enjoy  that  share  of  them  to  which  his  labor  and 
his  merits  justly  entitle  him,  or  to  dispense  them  so 
partially  that  merit  may  remain  unrecognized,  labor 
unrewarded,"  and  "a  system  of  social  and  labor  slav- 
eries be  perpetuated  to  the  end  of  time." 

One  of  the  first  things  taught  to  a  child  is  to  know 
what  money  is,  and  something  about  its  uses ;  yet  it  is 
a  lesson  usually  incorrectly  taught,  and  never  fully 
learned.  The  child  is  soon  taught  to  recognize  money 
when  it  sees  it,  and  easily  learns  that  its  use.  is  to 
buy  things  with;  the  grown-up  man  has  the  same 

217 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

knowledge,  but  as  to  the  scientific  understanding  of 
money,  the  child  knows  as  much  as  the  average  man. 
The  reason  for  this  is  that  the  true  scientific  under- 
standing of  money  has  been  perverted  and  corrupted. 
Truth  is  difficult  of  recognition  when  clothed  in  er- 
ror. The  true  character  of  money  has  so  long  been 
covered  up  with  erroneous  conceptions  and  uses  that 
even  the  wiser  logicians  have  failed  to  discover  it. 

Children,  in  using  pins  for  money,  recognize  in 
the  pins  a  representative  of  worth ;  and  in  giving  one 
pin  for  a  common  clay  marble,  or  ten  pins  for  a  finer 
agate,  recognize  a  numerical  ratio.  In  both  concep- 
tions they  are  nearer  to  a  scientific  character  of  money 
than  the  so-called  learned  economists. 

The  first  thing  necessary  in  establishing  a  science  is 
to  discover  its  fundamental  principles ;  the  next,  is  to 
express  those  principles  in  a  compendious,  definite,  un- 
ambiguous terminology.  With  regard  to  money,  this 
has  never  heretofore  been  done.  Either  the  thought 
of  making  money  a  science  has  never  entered  the 
minds  of  logicians,  or  else  they  considered  such  an 
impossibility.  The  several  monetary  terms  have  been 
used  by  writers  interchangeably,  utterly  confusing  to 
any  precision  of  definition.  We  believe  that  money 
can  be  made  a  science  as  definite  as  any  other.  So 
believing,  and  fully  aware  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
task  which  we  have  undertaken,  we  will  now  define 
the  monetary  terms;  and  the  reader  will  bear  in  mind 
that  each  term  here  defined  will  hereafter  be  used 
strictly  in  accordance  with  its  restricted  definition. 
Further  on,  in  the  predication  of  related  thoughts, 
some  recapitulations  will  be  made,  which,  to  the  read- 
er, may  appear  unnecessary ;  our  excuse  is  the  efiPort 
we  make  to  be  explicit. 

The  Latin  word  '*moneta"  is  traced  to  the  temple 
of  Juno  Moneta,  which  was  the  mint  of  Rome.    The 

2i8 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

reason  why  the  goddess  Juno  was  so  called  is  given 
by  Suidas  as  follows; — 

"During  their  war  with  the  Tarentians,  the  Ro- 
mans, being  in  want  of  money,  prayed  to  Juno,  and 
were  assured  by  the  goddess  that  *so  long  as  they 
observed  the  principles  of  equity,  money  would  al- 
ways be  within  their  reach.'  " 

Such  is  the  origin  of  the  word  money. 

MONEY  IS  A  DIVISOR  of  WORTH;  a  REP- 
RESENTATIVE OF  WORTH,  AND  A  MEASURE 
OF  VALUE. 

WORTH  IS  THAT  INTRINSIC  QUALITY  of 
COMMODITIES  and  SERVICES  that  MEETS 
HUMAN  NEEDS,  WANTS,  and  DESIRES,  and  is 

DETERMINED  BY  THEIR  USEFULNESS,  THEIR  NE- 
CESSITY, OR  THEIR  DESIRABILITY. 

VALUE  IS  WORTH  in  TRANSMISSION  by 
EXCHANGE  or  TRANSMISSIBLE,  and  is  indi- 
cated BY  the  numerical  denominations 

of  money,  when  it  is  called  PRICE. 

PRICE  IS  the  numerical  EXPRESSION 
OF  VALUE  AS  MEASURED  by  MONEY. 

CAPITAL  IS  the  BASIS  or  MEANS  of  PRO- 
DUCTION. 

The  UNIT  of  MONEY  is  its   LOWEST  DE- 
NOMINATION. 
The   standard  of  MONEY  is  the  WHOLE 

VOLUME    ADOPTED    BY    LAW. 

These  seven  terms,  as  here  defined,  comprise  the 
fundamental  principles,  of  the  science  of  money. 

The  word  money,  as  well  as  the  money  itself,  is  in 
constant  use  in  all  civilized  countries.  As  employed 
in  the  exchanges  of  trade,  and  the  everyday  transac- 
tions of  the  business  world,  there  is  no  word  perhaps, 
more  distinctly,  or  more  universally  understood.  But 
in  a  scientific  sense,  there  is  no  word  in  common  use 

219 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

less  comprehended.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  money 
has  never  been  scientifically  defined ;  and  the  disagree- 
ments and  confusion  in  terminology  of  monetary 
writers. 

The  practical  use  of  the  word  money  in  the  common 
affairs  of  life,  in  buying  and  selling,  is  everywhere 
understood,  but  a  comprehensive  definition  of  it  in 
economic  science,  is  not  a  part  of  popular  knowledge ; 
indeed,  it  has  never  been  reduced  to  a  science,  because 
the  true  scientific  nature  of  money  was  lost  sight  of 
in  the  commodity  theory  of  money,  and  the  terms, 
WORTH,  VALUE,  PRICE,  CAPITAL,  havc  been 
so  variously  and  differently  applied  and  defined  as  to 
hopelessly  obscure  their  true  scientific  meaning. 

In  the  minds  of  most  people,  the  conceptions  of 
capital  and  money  are  confused.  In  a  strict  sense 
they  are  quite  distinct.  Money,  legitimately,  has  no 
productive  or  reproductive  power;  but  the  interest 
drawing  power  which  has  been  given  to  it  by  legisla- 
tion, gives  it  a  reproductive  quality  whereby  it  may 
be  used  as  capital ;  but  when  so  used,  it  is  loaned  out 
at  interest,  which  is  not  the  natural  use  of  money  in 
buying  and  selling  in  the  exchanges  of  trade. 

The  scientific  meaning  of  capital  is  the  basis  or 
means  for  future  production.  The  lands,  stock  and 
implements  of  agriculture  is  capital ;  a  State  franchise, 
right  of  way,  roadbed,  cross  ties,  rails,  culverts, 
bridges,  rolling  stock,  locomotives,  engines  and  cars, 
the  capital  of  a  railroad  company;  a  building,  either 
owned,  or  the  paid-up  rental  of  the  same,  and  mer- 
chandise of  whatever  kind  in  stock,  is  the  capital  of 
a  merchant;  buildings,  machinery,  and  the  material 
for  manufacture  into  some  marketable  commodity,  is 
the  capital  of  the  manufacturer. 

As  related  to  these,  money  can  be  converted  into 
capital,  or  capital  into  money,  but  in  a  sense,  interest 

220 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

rates  have  given  to  money  a  productive  quality,  and 
when  so  used  we  call  it  money  capital.  Interest  rates 
is  not  a  productive  power  in  a  true  sense ;  because  the 
increase  is  not  by  new  growth,  but  by  accretion  or 
absorption;  however,  the  money,  or  notes  at  interest 
of  the  money  lender  is  his  capital.  Government  bonds 
or  paid  up  stock,  is  the  capital  of  the  banker,  and 
anything  held  in  possession,  of  representative  or  in- 
trinsic worth,  on  which  a  credit  or  debit  value  may 
be  placed,  and  used  in  production,  is  capital. 

We  can  readily  comprehend  that  in  the  beginning 
of  exchange  in  primitive  society,  when  one  man  had 
a  surplus  of  any  commodity,  he  would  exchange  it 
with  a  neighbor  who  had  a  surplus  of  a  different 
commodity  which  he  needed.  Later,  when  social  re- 
lations further  developed,  if  the  neighbor  had  not  the 
commodity  wanted,  but  had  something  else  of  equal 
worth,  or  something  representative  of  equal  worth, 
that  he  could  go  into  the  market  with  and  procure 
what  he  wanted,  the  exchange  was  effected.  And  as 
some  commodities  would  have  a  more  general  accept- 
ance than  others,  on  account  of  more  general  useful- 
ness or  convenience,  they  came  to  be  adopted  as  a 
current  medium  of  exchange.  The  first  commodity 
selected  as  a  general  medium  of  exchange  was  cattle. 
As  late  as  the  time  of  the  Siege  of  Troy,  cattle  were 
used  as  money  to  pay  for  weapons  and  uniforms.  In 
fact,  their  use  as  money  continued  up  to  the  time  of 
the  adoption  of  money  symbols.  The  English  word 
pecuniary  was  derived  from  the  Latin  word  pecunia, 
which  was  derived  from  the  earlier  Latin  word,  pecus, 
meaning  cattle.  This  is  perfectly  natural,  as  the  an- 
cients were  principally  a  pastoral  people,  and  their 
wealth  was  measured  by  the  size  of  their  flocks  and 
herds.  Cattle  became,  therefore,  their  current  me- 
dium of  exchange,  and  in  that  sense,  money;  but  not 

221 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

real  money.  It  was  simply  an  advanced  idea  of 
barter,  the  exchange  of  one  commodity  for  another. 

As  men  made  progress  in  the  social  state,  more  cor- 
rect ideas  of  money  were  evolved,  and  about  nine  cen- 
turies before  Christ,  metals  began  to  be  used  as  money. 
And,  be  it  said  to  the  credit  of  the  ancients,  when 
they  began  coinage,  or  the  use  of  metals  as  money, 
with  them,  their  coins,  or  bangs,  possessed  only  a 
representative  worth. 

It  is  quite  true  that  before  anything  can  be  used  as 
money,  it  must  be  such  as  can  be  immediately  used 
in  the  purchase  of  commodities,  or  the  payment  of 
debts;  but  in  a  truly  scientific  money  this  quaHty  is 
imparted  to  it  by  the  fiat  of  law  and  social  conven- 
tion, without  regard  to  intrinsic  worth  as  a  com- 
modity. 

Primitive  transactions  were  simply  barter;  the  ex- 
change of  one  commodity  for  another,  as  the  giving 
of  a  sheep  for  a  measure  of  corn.  As  the  variety 
and  multipHcity  of  transactions  increased  the  exchange 
of  commodities  became  cumbrous,  certain  symbols, 
representing  commodity  worth,  began  to  be  used,  both 
as  a  matter  of  convenience  and  to  facilitate  ex- 
changes, and  a  circulating  medium  marked  the  ad- 
vance in  civilization. 

In  different  countries  and  times,  cattle,  hides,  furs, 
ivory,  beads,  various  commodities, — and  in  some  coun- 
tries even  scraps  of  iron  and  nails,  have  been  used  as 
a  medium  of  exchange ;  proving  that  anything  can  be 
used  as  a  medium  of  exchange.  Chevalier  is  authority 
for  the  statement  that  nails  were  used  as  a  medium 
of  exchange  in  some  of  the  secluded  villages  of 
France,  as  late  as  the  year  1866. 

When  Cortez  invaded  Mexico,  he  found  the  people 
using  grains  of  cocoa  for  small  transactions.  Salt, 
leather,  olive  oil  and  dried  fish,  have  been  used  as 

222 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

a  medium  of  exchange,  even  in  modern  times.  Cat- 
tle still  serve  the  purpose  of  money  in  Central  Africa. 
Cows  were  once  receivable  for  taxes  in  Massachusetts. 

Any  commodity,  when  used  as  a  medium  of  ex- 
change, is  enhanced  by  the  representative  worth  im- 
parted to  it;  when  such  use  ceases,  it  immediately 
falls  to  its  own  particular  commodity  level  of  intrinsic 
worth.  When  cows  were  receivable  for  taxes  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, even  scrub  cows  became  very  valuable. 

Before  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  for  some  time 
afterward,  tobacco  was  used  as  a  medium  of  ex- 
change in  Maryland,  and  Virginia.  During  the  co- 
lonial period  tobacco  was  made  money  by  law,  (what 
makes  all  money)  and  fees,  salaries,  government  of- 
ficers, public  taxes,  were  all  paid  in  tobacco.  In  Oc- 
tober, 1780,  a  law  was  enacted  in  Maryland,  fixing 
the  exchange  rate  of  tobacco  at  twelve  shillings  six 
pence  per  hundred  weight.  In  1806  tobacco  fees 
were  abolished,  and  federal  money  substituted. 
Meanwhile,  the  District  of  Columbia  had  been  ceded 
to  the  United  States,  the  old  laws  continuing  in  force 
except  as  changed  by  the  Congress,  and  so,  to  this 
day,  the  fees  of  the  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in 
cases  where  the  Government  is  a  party,  are  computed 
in  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  settled  for  at  the  Treasury 
at  the  statutory  valuation  of  tobacco.  The  fees  of  the 
marshal  of  the  District  of  Columbia  were  computed  in 
tobacco  till  a  recent  period. 

California  first  used  gold  dust  as  a  medium  of  ex- 
change, but  had  California  raised  tobacco  instead 
of  gold,  its  first  medium  of  exchange  would  have 
been  tolDacco. 

Nothing  is  more  clearly  established  by  history  than 
the  fact  that,  down  to  the  sixteenth  century,  the  mak- 
ing of  money  was  regarded  as  a  royal  prerogative, 
and  that  it  was  the  authority  of  State,  or  law,  that 

223 


\' 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

made  the  metals  money,  and  not  the  amount  of  the 
metal  used. 

More  than  twenty  centuries  ago,  Aristotle  so  cor- 
rectly laid  down  the  nature  and  characteristics  of 
money  as  to  leave  little  room  for  improvement.  He 
makes  the  mistake  of  giving  value  to  money  when  he 
meant  representative  worth;  but  in  other  respects  his 
deductions  are  scientific  and  free  from  error.  He 
says,  "Money,  (nomisma)  by  itself,  is  but  a  mere 
device.  It  has  value  only  by  law  (nomos)  and  not  by 
nature,  so  that  a  change  of  convention  between  those 
who  use  it  is  sufficient  to  deprive  it  of  its  value  and 
of  its  power  to  purchase  our  requirements.  By  vir- 
tue of  voluntary  convention,  money  (nomisma)  has 
become  the  medium  of  exchange.  We  call  it  'nomis- 
ma^ because  its  efficiency  is  due  not  to  nature,  but  to 
law  (nomas)  and  because  it  is  in  our  power  to  regu- 
late it." 

If  this  was  changed  to  read  as  follows,  there  would 
be  in  it  no  error :  The  law-made  medium  of  exchange 
called  money,  by  itself  is  but  a  mere  device.  It  is  a 
numerical  measure  of  value  of  representative  worth 
only  by  law,  and  not  on  account  of  any  inherent  qual- 
ity, so  that  a  change  of  law  or  convention  between 
those  who  use  it  is  sufficient  to  deprive  it  of  its  repre- 
sentative worth  and  destroy  its  purchasing  power.  By 
virtue  of  law  and  voluntary  convention,  the  law-made 
medium  of  exchange  is  become  what  it  was  intended 
to  be.  We  call  it  law-made  medium  of  exchange  be- 
cause it  is  in  our  power  to  regulate  if. 

The  decision  of  the  privy  council  in  1604,  estab- 
lished the  public  and  social  character  of  money  by 
recognizing  money  as  a  measure  whose  equitable  oper- 
ation could  only  be  secured  by  the  State,  which  there- 
fore was  alone  trusted  with  the  power  to  *'Make  the 
same  generally  more  or  less"  by  increasing  or  dimin- 

224 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

ishing  its  volume  or  altering  the  composition  of  its 
symbols.  ''The  council  sustained  these  principles  by 
an  array  of  philosophical  authority  and  legal  prece- 
dents which  extended  backwards  to  the  remote  era  of 
the  Greek  republics." 

"The  plunder  of  India  and  America  during  the 
Stuart  dynasty  overthrew  both  law  and  philosophy.  It 
rendered  abortive  every  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
bench,  even  of  the  crown,  to  retain  for  the  State  the 
time-honored  and  necessary  prerogative  of  coinage. 
Scipio's  plunder  of  Spain,  his  destruction  of  the  numu- 
lary  system  of  Rome,  and  his  intrigues  and  embez- 
zlements of  the  Opima  Spolia,  were  enacted  all  over 
again.  First  at  Goa,  afterwards  in  Spanish  America, 
eventually  in  Holland  and  England,  the  avidity  of 
the  plunderers  abroad,  and  of  the  money  lenders  with 
whom  they  were  in  league  at  home,  broke  down 
every  safeguard  of  the  law,  destroyed  every  limitation 
of  the  monetary  measure,  and  reduced  money  to  the 
degraded  position  of  metal.  This  was  done  by  legally 
permitting  individual  or  private  coinage,  subject  to 
the  stamp  of  the  mint.  Under  this  law,  the  owners 
of  bullion  could  increase  the  currency  by  having 
their  metal  coined,  or  diminish  it  by  melting  the  coins, 
and  so  could  alter  the  measure  of  value  at  pleas- 
ure, without  loss  or  expense;  the  State  even  consent- 
ing to  perform  gratuitously  the  mechanical  work  of 
coinage  and  the  detective  work  of  incriminating  coun- 
terfeiters. Such  was  the  practical  outcome  of  the  law 
of  1666,  and  such  is  the  law  today.  A  more  sense- 
less and  mischievous   act  was  never  procured." 

"Upon  the  working  of  this  law  was  erected  an  en- 
tirely new  and  fallacious  theory  concerning  the  wealth 
of  nations,  its  origin  and  its  mode  of  increase;  a 
theory  which  was  never  heard  of  before,  and  will 
not  be  heard  of  again  whenever  the  coinage  and  the 

225 


TT 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

melting  down  or  exporting  of  the  national  measure 
of  value  shall  cease  to  be  prostituted  to  private  cu- 
pidity. The  name  which  has  been  given  to  this  law 
and  theory  is  the  Mercantile  System ;  its  proper  name 
is  Metalism.  It  assumes,  among  other  things,  that 
value  is  an  intrinsic  attribute  of  matter,  the  expres- 
sion 'intrinsic  value'  occurring  so  early  as  the  Dutch 
Mint  Act  of  July  21st,  1622;  that  exchange,  even  in 
civilized  states,  is  conducted  upon  the  basis  of  the 
cost  of  production ;  and  that  money  is  and  necessarily 
must  be,  a  commodity,  valued  as  such,  namely  (so 
runs  the  theory)  at  the  cost  of  the  production  of  coins, 
which  cost,  in  most  cases  down  to  that  time,  was 
in  point  of  fact  chiefly  rapine,  slavery  and  murder/' 
Alexander  Delmar. 

Private,  or  **free  coinage"  began  in  the  Moslem 
states  of  Egypt  and  Spain,  after  they  had  renounced 
the  authority  of  the  caliph,  or  Emer-el-Moumenin.  It 
was  carried  into  India  by  the  Moslem  invaders  and 
plunderers  of  that  unhappy  country;  it  was  prac- 
ticed successively  by  the  Portuguese,  Dutch  and  Eng- 
lish adventurers  in  the  East  Indies;  finally  it  was 
introduced  into  Europe  by  the  Dutch,  during  their 
revolt  against  the  authority  of  Spain,  and  as  one 
of  the  means  to  annoy  that  power.  The  Span- 
ish Mint  Act  of  1 591  appears  to  have  been  designed 
as  a  counter  move  to  the  legislation  of  the  Nether- 
lands. It  was  repealed  in  1603,  but  more  fully  en- 
acted in  1608,  which  year  may  be  definitely  regarded 
as  the  birth  time  of  "private  coinage"  in  Europe.  The 
law  of  1608  permitted  the  viceroys  of  Spain  in  Amer- 
ica to  coin  money  for  private  account,  without  limit, 
provided  each  coin  was  struck  from  bullion  which 
had  paid  the  king's  fifth,  or  tax  on  production.  In 
1620,  the  Spanish  law  provided  that  in  addition  to 

226 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  king's  flfth,  there  should  be  paid  a  seigniorage 
to  the  mints,  amounting  to  three  reals  per  mark. 

In  mere  barter,  the  things  bartered  must  possess 
some  intrinsic  worth  serviceable  to  human  wants ;  but 
that  worth  is  by  no  means  dependent  upon  labor. 
Worth  is  a  quality  intrinsic  to  the  commodity  but  ex- 
trinsic to  the  cost  of  production.  Commodities  are 
the  products  of  the  soil  and  of  labor,  but  money  is 
the  creature  of  law  and  convention.  The  false  con- 
tention that  anything,  to  serve  the  purpose  of  money 
must  have  worth  of  its  own  as  the  creation  of  labor, 
is  mischievous  and  misleading.  Some  physical  quali- 
ties, such  as  durability,  portableness,  convenience  in 
handling,  are  essential  only  for  those  reasons,  but 
have  nothing  to  do  with  representative  worth.  The 
precious  metals  fill  the  essentials  in  durability,  free- 
dom from  corrosion,  portableness  and  convenience; 
and  as  commodities  alone  their  worth  is  comparative- 
ly stable,  which,  we  will  grant,  is  also  a  desirable 
quality  so  long  as  the  present  commodity  theory  of 
money  is  maintained.  But  in  a  purely  scientific  mon- 
ey, this  last  named  quality  is  an  argument  against 
their  use. 

The  precious  metals  came  into  historical  use  as 
money  about  three  centuries  before  Christ.  Iron,  lead, 
tin,  copper  and  bronze,  were  before  then  used  suc- 
cessively by  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  Gold  and  sil- 
ver, at  the  ratio  of  about  twelve  to  one,  was  estab- 
lished by  Caesar;  since  which  time,  until  within  com- 
paratively recent  years,  the  volume  of  money  has 
mainly  consisted  of  those  two  metals.  Their  freedom 
from  corrosion,  their  durability,  their  adaptation  to 
the  art  of  the  mint,  and  their  convenience  in  handling, 
are  attributes  that  make  them  desirable  for  use  as 
money;  but  the  very  fact  of  their  high  commodity 
worth,  notwithstanding  their  advocates  argue  that  that 

227 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

quality  is  the  chief  essential  to  "sound  money,"  it  is 
the  very  quality  which  has  caused  the  true  scientific 
theory  of  money  to  be  lost  sight  of.  The  strongly 
advocated  theory  of  "much  worth  in  little  metal," 
unfits  them  for  use  as  scientific  money,  unless  the 
commodity  feature  can  be  eliminated  by  law. 

If  the  contention  of  the  "sound  money"  theorists 
that  "much  worth  in  a  little"  is  the  essential  quality 
of  money  be  correct,  why  not  make  diamonds  the 
only  money?  Or,  better  still,  from  their  point  of 
view,  radium,  which  is  the  rarest  of  all  metals? 
Whichever  of  these  should  be  chosen  as  the  money 
of  final  payment,  it  would  represent  the  entirety  of 
commodity  worth.  As  it  would  be  impossible  for 
either  to  circulate  in  trade,  the  circulating  medium 
would  have  to  be  a  credit  currency.  The  diamonds, 
or  radium,  established  as  money,  of  course  would  be 
owned  and  controlled  by  a  few  individuals,  which 
would  give  them  full  power  over  the  credit  currency 
to  make  it  more  or  less  at  their  pleasure.  If  radium 
were  selected  as  money  and  made  such  by  law,  an 
infinitesimal  amount  of  it  would  represent  a  vast 
amount  of  wealth.  Its  use  as  a  circulating  medium, 
even  in  the  largest  of  commercial  transactions,  would 
be  an  impossibility;  and  a  credit  currency  for  uni- 
versal use  in  trade  would  be  a  necessity;  which  seems 
to  us  fully  to  accord  with  the  logically  developed 
theory  of  the  "sound  money"  theorists. 

The  contention  that  the  use  of  the  precious  metals 
as  money  is  a  matter  of  "natural  selection,"  and  that 
all  money  not  so  selected  is  not  good  money,  is  sus- 
ceptible neither  of  historical  proof  nor  scientific  dem- 
onstration. 

The  amount  of  gold   in   the  world   is   about*   six 

*An  approximate  sum.  A  definite  statement  is  impos- 
sible.    The  amount  hid  away  by  hoarders  is  unknown. 

228 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

billion  dollars,  and  the  amount  of  silver  is  approxi- 
mately $3,500,000,000.  The  annual  additions  to  this 
stock  from  the  mines  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
million  dollars  a  year,  which  is  little  more  than  enough 
to  make  up  for  loss  by  abrasion  and  conversion  in  the 
arts.  The  purchasing  power  of  gold  has  been  great- 
ly increased,  but  a  given  zveight  of  gold  or  silver  will 
only  buy  one-tenth  as  mu-ch  food,  now,  as  it  would 
five  centuries  ago;  and  while  the  same  given  weight 
of  gold  or  silver  will  buy  so  much  less  of  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  it  will  buy  far  more  of  the  luxuries. 

In  recent  years  the  production  of  gold  and  silver 
has  greatly  increased.  Following  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  Australia  was  the  discovery  of  the  won- 
derfully rich  placer  mines  in  California,  in  1848-49. 
The  increase  in  the  annual  production  of  gold  by  cen- 
turies is  as  follows :  raised  from  one  million  to  eleven 
millions  in  the  sixteenth  century;  twenty-two  mil- 
lions in  the  seventeenth  century;  fifty-five  millions  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  Some  years,  of  course,  the 
production  was  more,  but  the  above  is  the  average. 
The  production  of  the  year  1852  was  one  hundred 
and  seventy-four  millions.  The  average  annual  pro- 
duction at  the  present  is  approximately  one  hundred 
and  fifty  millions. 

The  amount  of  gold  and  silver  in  circulation  in  the 
sixteenth  century  was  five  times  greater  than  it  was 
a  century  earlier;  in  consequence,  the  price  of  agricul- 
tural products  rose  in  a  corresponding  ratio,  directly 
due  to  the  increase  of  the  precious  metals.  The  price 
of  services  and  of  agricultural  products  would  have 
continued  responsive  to  the  volume  of  money,  had 
not  the,  progressive  advance  in  price  been  checked  in 
the  seventeenth  century  by  the  concession  to  the  gold- 
smiths and  money  lenders,  of  the  "free"  or  "private" 
coinage  of  coins  of  a  certain  weight  and  fineness,  by 

229 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

which  they  were  enabled  to  control  the  stock  of  gold 
and  silver,  and  reduce  prices.  The  rise  of  prices 
in  Europe  ceased  about  1636,  and  rapidly  declined 
for  the  rest  of  the  century.  The  decline  would  have 
been  greater  and  far  more  disastrous,  had  it  not  been 
for  the  introduction  about  that  time,  of  a  paper  cur- 
rency. 

Trade  outran  the  supply  of  money  so  fast  the 
first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  that  it  has  been 
computed  that  there  was  a  comparative  decline  in  the 
volume  of  money  of  sixty  per  cent,  from  1809  to 
1849.  The  production  of  gold  in  Australia  and  Cali- 
fornia caused  a  comparative  rise  in  the  volume  of 
money  from  twenty  to  forty  per  cent. 

Scientific  money  is  not  a  commodity  equivalent  for 
the  purchase  of  commodities;  it  is  simply  a  numerical 
measure  of  value.  A  scale  of  prices  is  not  money 
— showing  how  many  sheep  for  a  horse,  how  many 
pounds  of  coffee  for  a  barrel  of  flour.  A  house 
may  be  equivalent  in  value  to  a  thousand  bush- 
els of  wheat ;  but  the  value  of  each  is  numerically  ex- 
pressed; that  is,  the  value  of  the  house  is  a  thousand 
times  the  value  of  a  bushel  of  wheat.  If  these  values 
are  measured  by  money,  the  measures  are  expressed 
in  numerical  money  symbols  called  price,  and  the  price 
paid  is  the  cost. 

With  a  pint  cup  you  can  dip  up  a  pint  of  water; 
but  one  difference  between  a  money  measure  and  a 
liquid  measure  is  this :  with  the  pint  cup  you  can 
dip  up  a  pint  of  water  and  still  keep  the  pint  cup,  to 
dip  up  as  many  more  pints  of  water  as  you  want, 
while  a  money  measure  will  dip  up  (so  to  speak)  so 
much  of  value,  the  measure  passes  out  of  your  hands 
to  be  used  again  by  the  person  receiving  it. 

A  gold  dollar  contains  twenty-five  and  eight-tenths 
grain  of  gold,  nine-tenths  fine,  which  to  produce  at 

230 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  mine  is  supposed  to  equal  the  cost  of  the  produc- 
tion of  a  bushel  of  wheat. 

In  California,  before  the  Government  had  estab- 
lished a  mint  there,  private  individuals  manufactured 
coins  of  the  weight  and  fineness  of  American  gold 
coin,  and  even  of  subdivisions,  as  low  as  twenty-five 
cents.  This  money  was  not  counterfeit,  because  the 
inscriptions  differed  from  the  Government  stamp,  and 
denoted  that  they  were  coins  made  by  private  individ- 
uals; and  since  they  contained  the  same  amount  of 
gold  as  the  Government  coins,  and  since  the  Govern^ 
ment  had  declared  by  law  that  so  much  gold  was  a 
dollar,  and  as  the  public  had  confidence  that  the  ma- 
kers would  not  cheat,  they  passed  as  readily  as  the 
coins  stamped  by  the  Government.  Prior  to  this, 
merchants  and  miners  in  California  conducted  their 
exchanges  by  means  of  gold  dust,  as  found  in  the 
placer  diggings  and  river  washings,  passing  from 
hand  to  hand,  sometimes  by  weight,  often  by  guess- 
work. They  gave  so  many  grains  for  a  sack  of  flour, 
a  barrel  of  sugar,  a  quarter  of  beef,  a  pair  of  boots, 
etc.  The  coinage  was  a  matter  of  convenience.  When 
the  Government  set  up  its  own  mints,  private  coiners 
disappeared.  The  order  in  California  was :  first,  dust ; 
second,  private  coinage;  third.  Government  coinage. 
This  has  been  taken  by  "sound  money"  writers  to 
prove  that  gold  is  money  as  soon  as  dug  out  of  the 
earth.  But  if  the  Government  had  passed  a  law  mak- 
ing twenty-five  and  eight-tenths  grains  of  any  oth'er 
commodity  a  dollar,  it  would  hafue  been  a  dollar  in- 
stead of  gold,  and  the  same  as  gold  except  with  this 
difference; — it  is  necessary  that  the  volume  of  money 
be  limited  and  definite.  The  naturally  limited  quan- 
tity  of  gold  makes  a  natural  limit  to  the  volume  of 
money.  If  some  other  commodity  of  universal  abun- 
dance was  used  for  money,  the  volume  would  have 

231 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

to  be  limited  and  defined  by  law,  which  could  be  much 
more  equitably  and  definitely  done  than  leaving  it  to 
a  natural  commodity  limitation,  subject  to  the  uncer- 
tainty of  production  by  mining,  its  conversion  from 
money  uses  in  the  arts,  and  its  manipulation  by  free 
coinage. 

Under  our  commodity  theory  of  money,  money  is 
supposed  to  be  something  of  definite,  intrinsic  worth 
in  itself;  while  scientific  money  is  a  deiimte,  numerical 
measure  of  value.  The  use  of  money  is  to  purchase 
commodities  or  services,  or  to  pay  debts.  Under  our 
commodity  theory,  you  pay  or  receive  something  of 
supposedly  equal  commodity  worth,  but  with  a  scienti- 
fic money  you  would  pay  or  receive  a  definite  measure 
of  value.  With  a  commodity  money,  the  seller  re- 
ceives for  the  commodity  sold  a  money  commodity 
of  supposedly  equal  intrinsic  worth;  with  a  scientific 
money  he  would  receive  a  measure  of  value  of  equal 
representative  worth. 

Any  article  may  be  used  as  a  medium  of  exchange, 
and  in  that  sense  only  is  it  money.  Its  usefulness 
as  money  depends  entirely  upon  the  quantity  of  the 
article  and  the  demand  for  it ;  both  of  which  is  sub- 
ject to  violent  alterations;  hence,  in  establishing  the 
commodity  theory  of  money,  the  effort  has  been  made 
to  adopt  an  article  of  unvarying  intrinsic  worth,  of 
naturally  limited  quantity,  which  led  to  the  adoption 
of  the  precious  metals,  gold  and  silver,  and  finally 
gold  alone.  In  the  world's  present  monetary  system, 
the  money  of  final  payment  is  really  all  the  money 
there  is,  and  that  money  is  gold.  Silver  is  now  made 
a  subsidiary  money,  and  a  bank  note,  a  check  or  any 
kind  of  paper  currency  is  only  a  promise  to  pay  gold. 
If  the  bank  that  issues  the  note,  or  the  person  who 
draws  the  check  is  considered  solvent,  they  pass  cur- 
rent in  trade  as  money;  but  if  they  are  insolvent, 

232 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

or  become  so,  which  is  always  possible,  the  note  or 
check  loses  its  monetary  use.  It  is  rightly  claimed  that 
this  is  not  true  of  gold;  but  the  argument  that  that 
is  because  of  unvarying  commodity  worth  of  the  gold 
is  not  altogether  true;  the  real  reason  lies  in  the 
fact  that  law  and  convention  have  made  gold  the 
money  of  final  payment,  therefore,  the  only  real 
money. 

The  things  which  give  to  gold  its  commodity  worth 
are  its  limited  quantity,  the  cost  of  mining  it,  and 
its  various  uses  in  the  arts.  But  what  makes  it  money 
is  the  mint  laws  of  governments.  The  advocates  of 
the  commodity  theory  of  money  make  arguments 
something  like  this — "that  if  a  merchant  sells  a  hat  for 
five  dollars  in  gold,  he  knows  that  the  labor  required 
in  producing  the  gold  is  equal  to  the  labor  necessary 
to  make  the  hat";  but  the  truth  is  that  the  merchant 
does  not  employ  any  such  mental  process  at  all ;  what 
makes  the  gold  acceptable  to  him  is  that  he  knows 
that  it  is  good  money.  He  does  not  even  stop  to 
reason  that  what  makes  it  good  money  is  that  it  bears 
the  monetary  stamp  of  Government  coinage,  and 
that  it  is  universally  received  in  payment  of  all  debts, 
public  and  private. 

We  are  free  to  admit  that  the  most  approved  form 
of  money,  under  our  present  system,  is  coin  of  the 
precious  metals ;  for  the  reason  indicated  above,  and 
that  is  the  natural  limitation  of  their  volume;  but 
the  contention  that  their  commodity-worth  makes 
them  money  is  refuted  by  their  own  admissions;  for 
they  are  forced  to  admit  that  even  gold  is  worth  more 
as  money  than  in  the  arts,  and  that  if  its  monetary 
use  were  taken  away,  it  would  greatly  depreciate  in 
worth.  What  is  it  that  gives  to  the  gold  dollar  worth 
above  its  commodity  worth?  We  answer,  representa- 
tive worth.     The  total  volume  of  money,  established 

233 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

by  law  and  placed  against  the  aggregate  worth  of  com- 
modities and  services,  at  once  possesses  representative 
worth  exactly  equal  to  their  a\ctual  worth.  This  rep- 
resentative worth,  which  in  the  gold  dollar  is  more 
than  its  commodity  worth,  is  entirely  distinct  from 
commodity  worth,  and  would  still  remain  if  the  com- 
modity worth  were  taken  away.  No  matter  the  vol- 
ume of  money,  whether  it  be  large  or  small,  it  still 
possesses  representative  worth  exactly  equal  to  the 
worth  of  commodities  and  services.  If  gold  should 
be  made  by  law  the  only  money,  (which  is  practically 
the  case  now,)  and  if  its  volume  should  be  reduced 
to  one  dollar,  that  one  dollar  zvould  possess  represen- 
tative worth  equal  to  the  aggregate  actual  worth  of 
all  commodities  and  services;  and  whoever  owned 
that  dollar  woidd  own  the  world. 

The  fact  that  gold  is  worth  more  as  money  than 
as  a  commodity,  when  we  have  the  commodity  prin- 
ciple of  money,  is  proof  that  its  volume  is  too  small  to 
equitably  represent  the  worth  of  commodities  and  ser- 
vices ;  besides,  free  coinage  places  the  control  of  its 
volume  in  private  hands. 

The  silver  used  in  a  silver  dollar  is  of  less  com- 
modity worth  than  the  gold  in  a  gold  dollar ;  and  cop- 
per is  much  less  in  worth  as  merchandise  than  either 
silver  or  gold.  The  universal  adoption  by  law  and 
convention  of  gold  as  the  money  of  final  payment,  and 
the  coinage  stamp  of  the  Government,  makes  it  every- 
where and  at  all  times  good  money;  but  it  is  mainly 
the  Government  coinage  stamp  that  makes  silver  and 
copper  current  as  money,  and  that  despite  the  fact 
that  they  have  been  made  by  law  subsidiary  to  gold 
and  depreciated  in  commercial  price. 

Paper  money,  also,  based  on  gold  redemption  or  the 
credit  of  the  Government,  is  equally  current  as  long 
as  public  confidence  is  maintained;  but  let  public  con- 

234 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

fidence  once  be  shaken  and  there  occurs  an  immediate 
rush  for  the  gold,  with  the  result  that  the  credit  cur- 
rency which  was  put  out  in  the  shape  of  loans  is  called 
in  and  taken  up,  violent  contraction  of  the  currency 
ensues,  and  the  purchasing  power  of  gold  is  greatly 
increased  by  the  consequent  fall  in  prices. 

If  we  had  only  one  paper  dollar  for  every  dollar 
of  gold  we  would  have  (what  we  claim  to  have)  a 
convertible  currency;  but  even  then,  with  every  period 
of  liquidation  we  would  have  a  money  panic ;  because 
as  the  credit  currency  was  called  in  and  taken  up, 
only  the  gold  would  remain,  and  that  in  the  hands  of 
a  few  instead  of  in  general  circulation ;  the  contracted 
circulation  would  cause  a  fall  in  prices;  the  debtor 
class  would  experience  greatly  increased  difficulty  in 
paying  their  debts  because  of  the  depreciation  in  the 
prices  on  the  values  of  commodities  and  services.  In- 
evitable losses,  deprivation  and  suffering  would  en- 
sue, while  money  lenders,  the  holders  of  the  gold, 
would  be  vastly  enriched  by  its  enhanced  purchasing 
power. 

During  so-called  prosperous  times,  the  credit  cur- 
rency is  put  into  use  in  the  encouragement  and  aid 
of  production.  The  paper  notes  are  obligations 
against  the  banks  that  issue  them.  Other  people  pay 
interest  on  their  own  notes  and  debts,  but  not  so  with 
the  banks.  They  loan  their  note  obligations  at  an  in- 
terest equal  to  the  profits  on  production,  or  more,  and 
keep  their  gold.  The  promise  of  gold  redemption 
is  mostly  a  fraud;  for  the  banks  loan  out  their  notes 
as  money,  not  as  debts,  and  whoever  borrows  them 
is  indebted  to  the  bank  for  both  the  principal  and  the 
interest,  so  when  those  notes  are  returned  to  the  bank, 
in  most  instances  they  are  not  returned  for  redemp- 
tion, but  in  satisfaction,  or  payment  of  loans,  and  the 
obligations  are  cancelled.    The  only  profit  to  the  bank 

235 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

consists  in  the  interest  which  it  exacted  on  the  loan. 

While  times  are  prosperous  the  credit  currency 
passes  from  hand  to  hand  in  the  every  day  trade 
exchanges,  loans  are  let  to  run,  and  redemption  is 
not  demanded;  during  this  time,  the  note  issuers  are 
getting  their  interest,  and  when  a  sufficient  period  has 
elapsed  for  the  interest  to  equal  the  principal  of  the 
note  obligations,  usually  about  twenty  years,  they  are 
terminated  by  liquidation.  The  holders  of  the  gold 
make  as  much  profit  in  one  year  of  liquidation  and 
financial  panic  as  they  do  in  the  entire  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  preceding.  But  they  cannot  repeat  this 
too  frequently  for  the  reason  that  if  they  forced  re- 
demption by  calling  in  loans  before  the  interest  equaled 
the  principal  loaned,  they  would  lose  some  of  their 
gold;  besides,  production  would  be  too  greatly  crip- 
pled, and  they  cannot  afford  to  "kill  the  hen  that 
lays  the  golden  eggJ' 

The  precious  metals,  even  unstamped,  possess  more 
than  a  natural  commodity  worth,  because  law  and 
convention  have  made  them  the  only  money  material. 
If  we  had  the  full  use  of  both  gold  and  silver  as  money 
on  a  perfect  equality,  with  the  control  of  money  taken 
away  from  private  hands  and  restored  to  the  Govern- 
ment, the  natural  limitation  to  the  volume  of  the  two 
metals  would  be  relatively  stable,  and  perhaps  would 
very  equitably  represent  the  worth  of  commodities  and 
services. 

Use  and  convention,  sometimes  without  any  form- 
ally enacted  law,  (custom  being  a  Prescriptive  law  in 
itself  independent  of  legislative  enactment,)  constitute 
various  commodities  a  medium  of  exchange,  as  we 
have  already  noted.  "With  the  Indians  of  North 
America,  colored  beads  and  shawls  were  used  as  mon- 
ey; and  in  Central  Africa,  purchases  are  made  and 
debts  paid  with  strings  of  beads  or  coils  of  brass  wire. 

236 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Formerly  an  ivory  merchant  or  a  traveler  in  Central 
Africa  would  lay  in  a  stock  of  beads  and  brass  v^^ire, 
just  as  in  Europe  he  vi^ould  carry  gold  or  bank  notes. 
While  the  beads  and  brass  wire  are  commodities  used 
by  the  people  for  ornaments,  since  they  are  distributed 
far  beyond  their  demand  in  this  shape,  they  consti- 
tute an  actual  currency,  of  which  a  certain  preferred 
color  and  quality  is  made  the  standard.  If  a  mer- 
chant went  there  with  beads  of  the  wrong  color,  he 
failed  in  his  trading  for  lack  of  available  cash." 

As  before  noted,  paper  currency  is  founded  entirely 
on  credit,  which  a  distinguished  writer  denominated 
"one  of  the  resources  of  advanced  civilization  and  com- 
plicated commerce."  It  is  true  that  fully  eighty-five 
per  cent,  of  business  is  done  on  a  credit  with  a  credit 
currency  of  some  kind,  but  this  is  made  necessary, 
not  by  a  complicated  commerce  alone,  but  for  lack  of  a 
sufficient  volume  of  real  money,  which  operates 
against  the  welfare  of  the  people,  because  it  gives  all 
the  advantage  to  the  money  lenders. 

The  credit  medium  of  circulation  is  extremely  va- 
rious in  its  classifications,  extent  and  form;  but  in  all 
cases  it  is  only  a  promise  to  pay  money  instead  of 
being  real  money ;  yet,  in  times  of  general  public  con- 
fidence, it  is  used  to  make  purchases  and  to  pay  debts, 
and  therefore  performs  the  work  of  actual  money. 

"No  one  in  our  country  hesitates  to  take  a  gold  or 
silver  certificate  or  a  national  bank  note  as  good  mon- 
ey, for  in  either  case  the  Government  is  pledged  to 
pay  it.  A  check,  if  the  person  who  draws  it  is  known 
to  have  a  balance  in  a  solvent  bank,  is  used  as  money, 
for  the  payment  may  be  in  notes,  or  the  holder  of  the 
check  may  hand  it  over  to  his  own  banker,  in  whose 
account  it  will  be  credited  and  debited  against  the 
banker  on  whom  it  is  drawn." 

"One  of  the  special  imperfections  of  a  credit  cur- 

237 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

rency  is  that  it  may  be  taken  to  be  good  and  safe 
when  it  is  not,  as  in  the  case  of  a  check  not  honored 
by  payment;  or  in  the  case  of  bank  notes  depreciated 
by  over  issue.  But  there  are  also  risks  in  bulHon,  as 
light  weight,  base  coin,  and  the  absence  of  facilities 
necessary  for  the  detection  of  fraud,  as  well  as  by 
theft.  It  has  been  shown  that  one  of  the  advantages 
of  a  paper  currency  is  that  the  risks  attending  its  use 
are  so  easily  remedied  by  legislation  that  government 
notes  are  taken  now  without  the  least  suspicion.  On 
transactions  in  general,  the  chance  of  loss  from  for- 
gery or  insolvency  is  deemed  less  than  the  chances  for 
loss  from  light  weight  and  base  coinage." 

The  vast  majority  of  all  commercial  transactions  are 
made  in  paper  currency  of  some  kind,  as  drafts,  bills 
of  credit,  checks,  bank  notes,  etc.  The  people  are 
satisfied  with  it  because  the  great  majority  fail  to 
understand  or  appreciate  the  fact  that  a  credit  cur- 
rency  is  completely  under  the  control  of  the  money 
lenders,  who  can  call  it  in  whenever  it  suits  them  to 
do  so.  It  would  not  be  possible  to  contract  the  vol- 
ume of  real  money  if  it  were  restored  to  the  control  of 
the  Government. 

Worth  is  intrinsic  to  the  commodity  or  service 
Value  is  the  transmission  or  estimate  of  worth 
made  apparent  by  the  exchange  of  commodities  or 
SERVICES,  and  where  a  money  measure  is  used,  the 
apparent  value  is  expressed  in  money  symbols,  de- 
nominated PRICE. 

The  worth  of  commodities  or  services  is  determined 
by  their  use  to  mankind,  and  their  desirableness. 

SCIENTIFIC  MONEY  is  a  definite  numerical 
DIVISOR  OF  WORTH,  and  its  volume  such  as  is  dis- 
covered to  make  an  equitable  division  ;  but  no  matter 
the  numerical  volume  of  money  which  is  placed  against 
the  worth  of  all  commodities  and  services  as  a  divisor, 

238 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

the  aggregate  worth  of  all  is  taken  as  one,  or  unity  ; 
thus  considered,  the  quotient  resulting  from  the  divi- 
sion is  the  smallest  part  of  worth  decimally  expressed, 
and  is  the  unit  of  the  volume  of  money,  as  the  digit 
one  is  the  unit  of  mathematical  mensuration. 

The  numerical  volume  of  money  being  the  divisor, 
the  larger  the  volume  of  money  the  smaller  will  be 
the  quotient,  and  the  larger  the  number  of  parts  into 
which  worth  is  divided;  therefore  the  easier  of  dis- 
tribution, because  the  least  commodity  and  the  small- 
est service  would  then  have  its  monetary  symbol. 

While  scientific  money  is  a  numerical  divisor  of 
worth,  it  is  a  numerical  measure  of  value,  the  preci- 
sion of  which  measure  depends  upon  the  definiteness 
of  its  volume  as  established  by  law.  In  a  scientific 
money  the  volume  is  arbitrarily  determined  by  the 
total  estimated  worth  of  commodities  and  services  as 
the  amount  needed  to  make  an  equitable  distribution 
per  capita  of  all  the  wealth,  the  benefits  of  produc- 
tion, and  to  meet  the  requirements  of  commerce ;  then 
fixed  by  legal  statute. 

As  the  precision  of  the  money  measure  depends 
on  the  definiteness  of  its  volume,  its  equitableness  de- 
pends on  its  precision  and  on  a  numerical  volume  suf- 
ficiently large  to  place  the  worth  of  commodities  eas- 
ily within  the  reach  of  honest  industry.  We  will  say 
that  it  has  been  found  that  one  hundred  dollars  per 
capita  is  the  correct  volume  to  meet  all  requirements. 
There  are  ninety  million  people  in  the  United  States. 
That  number  multiplied  by  one  hundred  dollars  gives 
nine  billion  dollars  as  the  volume  of  money.  The 
worth  of  all  commodities  and  services  considered  as 
unity  and  divided  by  that  sum,  divides  worth  to  the 
nine  billionth  part  in  dollars.  One  dollar  would  then 
purchase  the  nine  billionth  part  of  all  worth ;  the  dol- 

239 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

lar  divided  into  one  hundred  cents,  each  cent  would 
purchase  the  nine  hundredth  billionth  part  of  all  worth. 

Worth  being  an  intrinsic  quality  does  not  change, 
except  as  affected  by  custom,  supply,  and  demand; 
neither  does  value,  which  is  worth  in  the  kinetic  form 
of  exchange;  but  price,  which  is  directly  affected  by 
the  volume  of  money  in  circulation,  and  the  rapidity 
of  circulation,  supply  and  demand,  fluctuates  with 
these  causes.  With  a  scientific  money,  the  volume 
would  by  law  be  definitely  maintained,  and  there 
could  be  no  fluctuation  in  prices  caused  by  diminish- 
ing or  increasing  the  volume  of  money,  which,  thus 
definitely  maintained  at  the  same  numerical  standard 
would  at  all  times  measure  value  with  precision. 

It  is  scientifically  inaccurate  to  speak  of  value  as 
falling  or  rising.  It  is  only  price  that  can  correctly 
be  said  to  fall  or  rise.  Prices  fall  with  a  diminishing 
volume  of  money,  or  rise  with  an  increasing  volume. 
With  falling  prices  the  measuring  or  purchasing  pow- 
er of  money  is  increased,  and  a  given  sum  of  money 
will  take  up  more  of  value.  It  is  not  the  value  which 
has  altered,  but  the  representative  worth  or  purchas- 
ing power  of  the  money. 

The  STANDARD  of  Scientific  money  is  not  related  to 
the  material  of  which  it  is  made,  nor  to  any  mone- 
tary symbol;  it  is  the  entire  numerical  volume  of 
money,  by  government  fixed,  established,  and  main- 
tained. With  such  a  money  standard,  under  govern- 
ment control,  the  volume  could  not  be  increased  nor 
diminished  at  the  will  of  private  individuals  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  equitableness  of  the  money  measure 
for  the  selfish  gain  of  a  few;  besides,  a  purely  scien- 
tific money  should  possess  no  commodity  worth  what- 
ever. Being  simply  money,  and  possessing  no  intrinr- 
sic  worth  as  a  commodity,  it  could  not  be  diverted 
from  its  proper  tise,  a  measure  of  value  only.     The 

240 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

temptation  to  reduce  the  volume  of  circulation  by 
hoarding,  would  still  exist;  but  if  individual  fortunes 
were  limited,  as  we  have  elsewhere  suggested,  this 
could  not  be  done  to  any  harmful  extent. 

Say  fifty  dollars  per  capita  was  placed  against  the 
aggregate  of  worth,  instead  of  one  hundred  dollars, 
one  dollar  would  buy  twice  as  much  of  commodities 
or  services;  if  it  were  made  thirty-three  and  a  third 
dollars  per  capita,  one  dollar  would  buy  three  times 
as  much.  As  the  volume  of  money  is  increased  or 
diminished,  its  representative  worth  or  purchasing 
power  is  diminished  or  increased  inversely.  The  mon- 
ey volume,  together  with  the  rapidity  of  circulation, 
absolutely  controls  prices  under  like  conditions  of 
supply  and  demand,  when  not  interfered  with  by  trade 
combinations  and  manipulations. 


CHAPTER  XX 

ROYAL    PREROGATIVE    OF    MONEY    SURRENDERED ESTAB- 
LISHMENT OF  THE  BIG  BANK  AND  THE  BEGINNING 

OF  A  CREDIT  CURRENCY REPRESENTATIVE 

WORTH    OF    MONEY   FURTHER   DEFINED 

"Before  the  Act  of  1666,  the  money  of  England 
consisted  of  all  the  pounds,  shillings  and  pence  in  the 
kingdom,  no  matter  of  what  material  made,  plus  all 
the  pounds,  shillings  and  pence  which  the  king  as  ad- 
vised by  his  privy  council,  might  choose  to  decree; 
that  is,  the  king  alone  could  increase  or  diminish 
the  volume  of  money  at  his  royal  will.  After  the  Act 
of  1666,  the  money  in  the  kingdom  consisted  of  all 
the  pounds,  shillings  and  pence,  only  when  coined  of 
gold  or  silver  of  a  certain  weight  and  fineness.  As 
this  act  opened  the  mint  to  "private  coinage,"  so  that 

241 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

bullion  could  be  manufactured  into  legal  tender  coins 
at  the  bidding  of  private  individuals,  and  as  legal  ten- 
der coins  could  be  melted  down  to  bullion  by  anybody, 
without  hindrance  or  expense,  the  coins  of  the  realm 
could  be,  and  in  fact  were  frequently  augmented  in 
volume  by  "private  coinage,"  or  reduced  by  exporta- 
tion or  melting/' 

"Before  the  royal  prerogative  of  money  was  sur- 
rendered, the  volume  of  money  was  uncertain,  be- 
cause the  king  chose  frequently  to  change  it ;  but  it 
now  became  of  still  more  uncertain  dimensions  be- 
cause the  goldsmiths  and  merchants  had  it  in  their  own 
power  to  swell  or  shrink  it  so  as  to  make  it  sub- 
serve their  selfish  interests.  This  they  have  alternate- 
ly done,  sometimes  by  melting  down  into  bullion,  but 
usually  by  hoarding  and  exportation.  As  concertion 
of  action  was  essential  to  the  carrying  out  of  these 
policies,  there  grew  up  at  once  that  class  of  universal 
bankers  and  cosmopolitan  financiers  who  now  govern 
the  markets  of  the  world." 

"Macaulay  has  described  the  advent  of  this  class,  but 
he  has  omitted  to  mention  the  mischief  they  wrought 
upon  the  monetary  system  of  England." 

"To  remedy  this  mischief  the  great  Bank  was  cre- 
ated ;  and  out  of  the  great  Bank  arose  numerous  small- 
er banks;  then,  finally,  an  irredeemable  paper  money 
system;  during  which  time  silver  was  demonetised, 
but  as  yet  without  any  very  harmful  consequences, 
because  the  French,  the  American,  and  other  mints 
were  still  open  to  coin  the  discarded  silver  metal  into 
money." 

"During  the  American  Civil  War  of  1861-65,  these 
universal  financiers  got  hold  of  one  thousand  to  fif- 
teen hundred  million  dollars  in  United  States  bonds 
at  half  price,  and  they  at  once  started  a  movement  or 
intrigue  which  had  for  its  object  the  raising  of  these 

242 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

bonds  to  par  in  gold."  These  were  the  bonds  referred 
to  in  the  message  of  President  Johnson,  in  which  he 
declared  that  they  had  already  been  paid  the  purchase 
price,  and  recommended  that  the  interest  for  sixteen 
years  and  eight  months  be  computed  on  the  principal 
and  paid  in  semi-annual  installments,  and  the  debt 
cancelled.  For  this  he  was  denounced  as  a  dishonest 
repudiationist. 

The  chief  obstacles  to  the  scheme  of  the  bondhold- 
ers were  the  mint  laws  of  France,  England  and  the 
United  States.  They  procured  the  alteration  of  the 
mint  laws  in  France  in  1867,  in  England  in  1870, 
in  the  United  States  in  1873. 

"These  alterations  deprived  the  debtor  of  his  pre- 
vious option  to  pay  in  either  gold  or  silver  coins, 
and  confined  him  to  gold  ones  alone.  Moreover,  they 
prescribed  and  endeavored  to  prescribe  for  all  time, 
the  weight  and  fineness  of  such  gold  coins.  By  these 
means  they  claimed  to  have  converted  a  debt  of  francs, 
dollars  or  pounds,  into  a  debt  of  gold  metal.  They 
not  only  altered  the  conditions,  incidence  and  weight 
of  the  debt,  they  pinned  down  all  the  great  states 
of  Europe  and  the  Western  World  to  the  future  use 
of  gold  coins  of  a  given  weight  and  fineness,  and  thus 
mortgaged  posterity  to  conditions  so  onerous  that  they 
may  be  either  bound  by  them  or  obliged  to  suffer  what 
may  prove  to  be  a  ruinous  alternative." 

Alexander  Delmar. 

The  term  "unit  of  value"  was  first  used  in  an  essay 
by  Joseph  Harris,  Master  of  the  Mint  of  London, 
in  1857.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  unit  of  value. 
Value  is  neither  a  thing  nor  an  attribute  of  things; 
it  is  simply  worth  in  transmission  or  transmissible  by 
exchange,  and,  when  a  money  measure  is  used,  is 
numerically  indicated  by  money  symbols  called  price. 

243 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

The  money  measure  differs  from  all  other  meas- 
ures in  the  following  respects: 

Money  is  used  to  measure  the  value  of  money  and 
different  things  at  the  same  time — a  yard  stick  is 
used  to  measure  the  length  of  one  thing  at  a  time; 
money  measures  a  dynamical  and  variable  relation — 
other  measures,  quantitative  or  qualitative  attributes; 
money  determines  by  measure  an  equitable  relation — 
other  measures,  quantities  which  have  no  necessary 
connection  with  equity;  different  money  measures  in- 
stantly amalgamate  into  one  money — other  measures 
do  not.  All  measures  are  arbitrary,  and  to  measure 
with  precision  must  be  of  fixed  artificial  dimensions. 
To  become  a  precise  measure  of  value,  money  must 
be  made  a  fixed  artificial,  numerically  defined,  vol- 
ume. 

The  precision  of  all  measures  depends  upon  the 
exactness  of  their  Hmits,  not  the  substance  of  which 
they  may  be  composed.  The  efficiency  of  money  to 
fill  the  purpose  of  an  exact  and  equitable  measure, 
depends,  not  upon  the  material  of  which  it  is  made, 
but  upon  a  numerical  volume,  definitely  fixed  by  law, 
sufficiently  large  to  equitably  divide  the  aggregate 
worth  of  services  and  commodities. 

We  have  discovered  that  money  is  not  a  measure 
in  the  sense  that  a  yard  stick  or  a  pint  cup  is  a 
measure.  They  are  entirely  separate  and  distinct  from 
what  they  measure ;  but  in  the  case  of  money,  it  con- 
ceals value  in  its  representative  worth;  the  value  so 
concealed  is  indicated  by  the  numeral  denominations 
of  the  money.  When  the  representative  worth  of 
money  is  exchanged  for  the  actual  worth  of  commodi- 
ties, the  money  passes  into  the  hands  of  the  seller,  and 
still  retains  the  same  amount  of  representative  worth. 
The  buyer  gets  the  value  which  was  measured  and 
transmitted  to  him,  and  the  money  passes  into  the 

244 


THE  DRAGON'S   TEETH 

seller's  hands  without  its  representative  worth  being 
in  the  least  affected.  You  do  not  exchange  pint  cups 
for  pints  of  water,  nor  yard  sticks  for  yards  of  cloth ; 
but  the  representative  worth  of  money  is  the  envelope, 
so  to  speak,  for  the  transmission  of  value.  When 
any  portion  of  money  is  destroyed,  the  worth  of  com- 
modities is  not  in  the  least  affected,  and  the  repre- 
sentative worth  of  the  remaining  sum  of  money  im- 
mediately becomes  equal  to  the  aggregate  actual  worth 
of  commodities. 

Del  Mar  says,  "An  attempt  to  explain  value  through 
the  medium  of  price,  indirectly  points  to  the  numerical 
character  of  the  former,"  and  he,  therefore,  concludes 
that  value  is  "an  arithmetical  relation." 

Worth  is  the  intrinsic  qualities  of  commodities  for 
man's  utility,  consumption  or  adornment.  The  worth 
of  services  consists  in  the  production  of  commodities 
or  augmentation  of  personal  comfort.  Value  relates 
to  exchangeable  things,  and  to  things  regarded  as  be- 
ing exchanged,  to  all  other  commodities  and  services. 

"Exchanges  are  effected  by  price.  Price  connects 
the  commodity  to  be  sold  or  bought  with  the  prices 
of  like  commodities  being  exchanged  or  exchange- 
able ;  and  price  is  also  influenced  by  the  sum  of  money 
in  circulation;  and  the  price  of  any  particular  com- 
modity is  affected  by  the  prices  of  all  other  commodi- 
ties." Price  is  variable,  but  value,  like  worth,  does 
not  change,  except  from  the  natural  causes  of  supply 
and  demand.  When  a  commodity  goes  up  or  down 
in  price  it  is  incorrect  to  say  that  it  goes  up  or  down 
in  value.  Price  is  extrinsic  to  worth  or  value,  and 
is  not  in  any  way  connected  with  the  physical  proper- 
ties of  commodities  or  the  difficulty  of  producing 
them.  Price  is  a  numerically  expressed,  concrete 
term ;  value  is  an  abstract  one. 

Value,  as  an  abstract  term,  is  no  more  capable  of 

245 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

definite  comprehension  than  time  or  space.  If  time 
and  space  are  numerical  relations,  so  is  value;  for 
neither  can  be  understood  unless  numerically  ex- 
pressed by  an  artificial  numerical  measure.  The  meas- 
ures of  time  and  space  are  arbitrary  and  comparative, 
and  so  is  the  measure  of  value.  No  cause  can  be 
assigned  for  time  or  space,  but  value  finds  its  cause 
in  worth,  and  its  measure  is  reached  by  the  compara- 
tive worth  of  different  commodities.     Del  Mar  says: 

**Value  only  appears  in  the  social  state,  and  merely 
applies  to  exchangeable  things." 

Though  value  is  its  basis,  exchange  has  a  social 
origin.  "Society  is  held  together  by  a  series  of  ex- 
changes. It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  society  exist- 
ing without  exchange,  or  exchange  without  society. 
In  an  isolated  state,  denied  the  benefits  of  exchange, 
man's  wants  exceed  his  powers ;  but  in  the  social  state, 
through  the  use  of  exchange,  his  powers  exceed  his 
wants." 

Cost  is  simply  the  price  paid  for  anything;  there- 
fore exchange  is  based  on  value,  not  cost.  The  parity 
of  values  is  governed  by  the  comparative  worth  of 
commodities.  Value  and  "unit  of  value"  are  terms 
familiar  to  the  law,  but  neither  has  ever  been  legally 
defined. 

A  very  long  list  of  attributes  have  been  falsely  at- 
tributed to  value;  as — utility,  desirability,  temporary, 
positive,  negative,  relative — which  are  attributes  of 
worth  and  not  of  value;  and  difficulty  or  cost  of  pro- 
duction, exchange,  market — correctly  apply  only  to 
price.  Money  possesses  none  of  the  attributes  of 
worth  except  in  a  representative  way.  Money  posses- 
ses no  utility  in  itself.  It  is  therefore  incorrect  to 
speak  of  using  money.  It  can  be  spent,  but  it  cannot 
be  used.  When  one  man  says  to  another  that  he 
wants  the  use  of  ten  dollars  for  a  few  days,  he  means 

246 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

that  he  wants  the  loan  of  ten  dollars  for  a  few  days 
that  he  may  spend  it  in  the  payment  of  debt  or  the 
purchase  of  something,  and  that  he  will  return  to  the 
lender  other  ten  dollars. 

True,  the  precious  metals,  gold  and  silver,  can  any 
time  be  used  in  the  arts,  in  jewelry,  ornamentation, 
etc.;  but  when  coins  are  so  used,  they  are  used  as 
commodities  and  not  as  money.  That  fact  alone  is 
sufficient  to  refute  the  commodity  theory  of  money. 

''When,  in  the  process  of  time,  the  term  'unit  of 
value'  was  seen  to  be  objectionable,  it  was  changed 
by  money  writers  to  'integer  of  money,*  or  'unit  of 
money,'  or  'monetary  unit,'  and  in  the  effort  to  desig- 
nate what  that  unit  was,  they  attached  to  it  the  prin- 
cipal coin  used  in  each  state,  as  the  franc  in  France, 
the  sovereign  in  England,  and  the  dollar  in  the  United 
States.  This  blunder  was  much  worse  than  the  first, 
because  it  assumed  that  money  had  commodity  worth, 
and  that  its  power  to  measure  value  depended  upon 
the  quantity  and  fineness  of  the  metal  in  the  so- 
called  'unit\" 

Alexander  Del  Mar  says,  "To  say  that  price  is  value 
expressed  in  money  is  to  give  a  definition  where  an 
explanation  is  required."  Mr.  Del  Mar  got  nearer 
to  scientific  money  than  any  other  monetary  writer; 
but  he,  like  the  others,  failed  to  restrict  his  terminol- 
ogy, and  therefore  his  reasoning  is  confusing,  and 
often  contradictory.  Price  is  not  value  in  any  logical 
sense ;  it  is  only  the  numerical  expression  of  value  as 
measured  by  money. 

Del  Mar  again  says,  "If  in  a  given  community  it 
were  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  distribution  to 
transact  a  thousand  exchanges  per  diem,  if  the  sub- 
jects of  each  exchange  proved  to  be  of  equal  value, 
and  the  money  of  such  community  consisted  of  a  thou- 
sand sovereigns,  with  a  circulating  velocity  of  once 

247 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

a  day,  the  price  of  each  commodity  or  service  ex- 
changed would  necessarily  be  just  one  sovereign,  no 
matter  whether  the  sovereigns  cost  little  or  much  to 
produce,  no  matter  whether  they  were  made  of  gold 
or  glass."  This  illustration  proves  that  price  is  gov- 
erned by  the  volume  of  money  and  the  rapidity  of  cir- 
culation. We  have  never  seen  a  finer  reasoning.  The 
only  error  which  he  makes  in  this  illustration  is  where 
he  says  "if  the  subjects  of  exchange  proved  to  be 
of  equal  value."  He  should  have  used  the  term 
"worth"  instead  of  "value."  //  the  commodities  mid 
services  to  he  exchanged  are  of  equal  worth,  with  an 
unvarying  volume  of  money  and  an  unvarying  num- 
ber of  exchanges  in  time,  the  value  of  each,  as  ex- 
pressed in  price,  which  is  the  numerical  expression  of 
value  as  measured  by  money,  zuoidd  be  the  same. 

The  cost  of  producing  a  commodity,  or  its  scarcity, 
may  become  an  intrinsic  element  of  its  worth,  and 
thereby  influence  its  value  as  expressed  in  price;  but 
as  Del  Mar  correctly  says,  "price  is  mostly  influenced 
by  the  volume  of  the  circulating  medium  in  time  and 
the  sum  of  exchanges  in  time." 

John  Stuart  Mill  said  that  "the  value  of  money  is 
inversely  as  its  quantity  multiplied  by  what  is  called 
the  rapidity  of  circulation."  He  was  striking  very 
close  to  the  scientific  truth  of  the  matter,  but  he  is 
here  guilty  of  the  unscientific  confusion  of  terms.  A 
scientific  money  has  no  intrinsic  worth,  hence  it  can- 
not have  any  value.  And  his  use  of  the  word  quan- 
tity, instead  of  volume  shows  that  he  had  not  gotten 
away  from  the  false  commodity  theory.  It  is  easy 
to  see  what  Mr.  Mill  had  in  mind,  and  it  is  unfortu- 
nate that  he  should  be  so  near  the  truth  and  yet  fail. 
Had  he  said  that  the  representative  worth  or  purchas- 
ing power  of  money  is  inversely  as  its  numerical  vol- 
ume multiplied  by  what  is  called  the  rapidity  of  cir- 

248 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

culation,  the  statement  would  have  been  scientifically 
correct. 

"Under  existing  law  the  only  limit  to  the  volume 
of  money  is  the  uncertain  one  of  supply,  commonly 
called  'money  supply,'  which  is  left  to  the  chances  of 
commerce  and  of  war,  the  caprice  and  intrigues  of  the 
money  kings,  the  uncertainty  of  mining  discovery  and 
development,  the  manipulations  and  speculations  of 
so-called  financiers,  the  variableness  of  crops  in  the 
different  countries,  social  conditions,  and  current  of 
trade,  the  melting  down  of  coins  for  use  in  the  arts, 
the  abrasion  and  the  loss  of  coins," — ^but  more  than 
all,  the  centralization  of  money  in  the  money  centers 
by  controlHng  banking  methods,  and  the  large  credit 
currency  at  all  times  subject  to  contraction  at  the  will 
of  the  banker  and  money  lender. 

The  demand  for  money  is  based  upon  its  supply 
and  the  opportunities  for  its  profitable  investment; 
and  as  these  opportunities  have  come  to  be  controlled 
by  large  corporate  combinations  in  the  restraint  of 
trade,  the  independent  investor  is  at  their  mercy.  The 
need  for  money  should  govern  the  demand ;  but  under 
the  present  system  the  demand  is  controlled  as  just 
stated. 

No  matter  how  much  a  man  may  need  money,  he 
cannot  afford  to  borrow  it  if,  by  doing  so,  he  is  com- 
pelled to  suffer  loss.  Both  the  demand  for  money 
and  its  supply  are  controlled  by  private  corporate  com- 
binations instead  of  by  social  need  and  government 
regulation. 

The  term  'Value"  is  habitually  erroneously  used  in 
the  sense  of  price.  Value  does  not  fall  or  rise.  Price, 
which  is  the  numerical  expression  of  value  in  money 
symbols,  does  fall  and  rise,  because  in  our  monetary 
system  the  supply  of  money  constantly  varies.  Value 
is  worth  in  transit,  or  worth  in  its  kinetic  form.  Nei- 

249 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

ther  value,  nor  the  "unit  of  value,"  are  defined  in 
law. 

The  world's  stock  of  gold  coin  and  bullion  is  about 
$6,000,000,000.  About  one-fourth  or  $1,500,000,000  is 
held  in  reserve,  leaving  a  remainder  of  $4,500,000,000 
supposed  to  be  in  circulation.  Gold  having  been  made 
by  law  the  money  of  final  payment,  it  is,  in  fact,  the 
only  real  money ;  it  is  therefore  capable  of  taking 
up  all  the  credit  currency  of  whatever  kind;  in  which 
case  it  would  contain  in  itself  the  representative 
worth  of  the  aggregate  of  the  world's  commodities. 

Below  is  a  compilation,  made  from  the  report  of  the 
director  of  the  United  States  mint,  up  to  January 
I,  1904.  The  countries  owning  these  money  stocks 
were: 

United  States  of  America,  Austria-Hungary,  Bel- 
gium, British  Empire — Australasia,  Canada,  United 
Kingdom,   India,   South  Africa,  etc. 

Bulgaria,  Cuba,  Denmark,  Egypt,  Finland,  France, 
Germany,  Greece,  Hayti,  Italy,  Japan,  Mexico,  Neth- 
erlands, Norway,  Portugal,  Roumania,  Russia,  Ser- 
via,  Siam,  South  American  States,  Spain,  Sweden, 
Switzerland,  Turkey,  Central  American  States,  China. 

Estimated  population  of  the  countries  at  that  date, 
4,298,500,000. 

Stock  of  gpld $5,987,100,000 

Stock  of  silver 3,130,400,000 

The  world's  production  of  gold  and  silver  for  the 
calendar  year  was: 

Gold    $16,780,913 

Silver   $168,390,238 

The  coinage  of  the  nations  for  1904  was: 

Gold    $455,427,085 

Silver  172,270,379 

Since  the  discovery  of  America,  1492,  and  up  to 
1904,  the  gold  production  amounted  to  $10,950,120,- 

250 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

500.  The  silver  production  at  coinage  worth,  was 
$12,074,591,100.  The  question  is,  what  has  become  of 
it?  The  estimated  stock  of  both  metals  in  the  coun- 
tries of  the  world  is  but  little  more  than  half  that 
amount.  And  according  to  the  estimated  amount  of 
gold  in  circulation,  there  is  of  it  only  about  one  and 
a  half  dollar  per  capita.  The  interest  on  the  bonded 
debt  of  the  United  States  in  the  last  44  years  is 
more  than  the  estimated  gold  stock  of  the  world.  And 
while  gold  coin  of  a  certain  weight  and  fineness  are 
constituted  the  so-called  money  standard,  all  forms 
of  currency  being  redeemable  in  gold,  any  paper 
notes,  or  other  forms  of  currency  that  cannot  be  con- 
verted into  gold,  are  worthless  as  soon  as  their  non- 
convertibility  becomes  known.  Those  who  own  the 
gold  have  it  in  their  power  to  force  upon  the  country 
at  any  time,  an  insupportable  condition. 

The  effects  of  a  false  monetary  standard  unattain- 
able by  the  people  is  illustrated  by  the  following: 

'The  hides  of  cattle  was  the  money  of  the  Frisians, 
a  people  who  dwelt  beyond  the  Rhine.  When  they 
were  conquered  by  the  Romans,  their  first  Roman 
governor,  Drusus,  allowed  them  to  pay  their  taxes 
in  hides,  without  specifying  their  size.  But  his  suc- 
cessor, Olennias,  made  the  hides  of  the  Uri,  wild  for- 
est bulls,  the  standard.  The  domestic  breed  of  cattle 
were  much  smaller  than  the  Uri,  and  therefore  not 
acceptable.  The  Uri  were  of  limited  number,  run- 
ning wild  in  the  forest,  requiring  the  time,  patience 
and  skill  of  the  huntsman  to  procure  them.  While 
hunting  the  wild  bulls,  the  tillage  of  the  soil  was 
neglected,  and  the  result  was  distressing  want  and 
poverty.  Their  property  and  lands  first  went  to  pay 
taxes ;  then,  finally,  their  wives  and  children  were 
sold  into  slavery." 

Since  the  practical  demonetization  of  silver,  some 

251 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

monetary  writers  refer  to  coined  silver  as  "silver  tok- 
ens," signs  of  money,  having  the  appearance  of  money 
only.  Great  Britain  has  of  silver  tokens  $112,000,000; 
France  $490,000,000,  Germany  $215,000,000,  and  the 
United  States  has  $625,000,000  silver  tokens,  and 
$500,000,000  legal  tender  notes,  all  of  which,  in  the 
United  States,  they  will  tell  you  is  full  legal  tender 
except  about  $75,000,000,  but  none  of  which  is  legal 
tender  by  practice  in  the  transactions  of  government. 
The  law,  as  it  now  stands,  says  the  silver  dollar  is 
full  legal  tender;  but  the  law  is  nullified  by  not 
being  enforced. 

The  Act  of  January  26th,  181 9,  providing  the  legal 
tender  of  silver  coin,  limited  the  silver  dollar  to  five 
dollar  payments.  This  is  the  first  suggestion  that 
fractional    silver   be   made   subsidiary. 

The  facts  of  history  are  that  the  exportation  of  gold 
alone  does  not  cause  the  serious  distress  which  has 
always  followed  the  exportation  of  silver. 

Secretary  Ingham  urged  the  adoption  of  silver  as 
the  standard  because  contracts  in  the  country  had 
for  years  been  based  on  the  silver  dollar,  and  silver 
could  be  kept  at  home  by  reducing  the  mint  value 
of  gold.  Gallatin,  secretary  of  the  Treasury  under 
Jefferson,  favored  making  silver  the  standard,  be- 
cause "It  was  then  the  standard  metal,  was  more 
abundant,  required  a  greater  premium  before  it  could 
be  exported,  and  was  the  best  means  for  suppressing 
small  notes,  the  worst  form  of  paper  currency." 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  commercial  ratio 
of  gold  to  silver  did  not  equal  our  coinage  ratio  until 
1874,  silver  all  the  time  commanding  a  small  pre- 
mium. Under  our  present  system,  bank  clearings  and 
discounts  are  said  to  indicate  the  volume  of  exchanges, 
and  the  shipments  or  movements  of  gold  the  increase 
or  decrease  of  money  in  circulation  at  any  time  in  a 

252 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

particular  state,  showing  the  changes  in  prices  af- 
fecting the  purchasing  power  of  money. 

"The  enactment  of  the  law  of  1666,  which  destroyed 
the  scientific  character  of  money  as  a  divisor  of  worth 
and  measure  of  value  and  surrendered  the  regulation 
of  its  volume  into  private  hands,  enables  those  hands, 
through  the  powerful  agency  of  a  corrupted  money 
system,  to  grasp  control,  not  only  of  all  metalic 
money,  but  by  alternately  swelling  and  shrinking  the 
volume  of  the  credit  currency,  to  gather  to  themselves 
the  profits  of  production  and  the  undue  share  of  all 
wealth." 

"One  of  the  many  tricks  employed  by  so-called  finan- 
ciers has  been  the  frequent  changing  of  the  ratio  be- 
tween gold  and  silver,  and  ascribing  it  to  the  work 
of  nature,  the  operation  of  the  market,  to  monetary 
evolution,  the  law  of  natural  selection" ;  to  many  other 
fanciful  causes,  but  never  to  the  true  one,  the  manipu- 
lations of  the  money  lenders  themselves,  as  is  abun- 
dantly proven  by  the  petitions,  cashiers  and  plakkarts 
of  the  periods  to  which  they  refer.  Sometimes  they 
changed  the  material  of  full  legal  tender  coins  from 
gold  to  silver  or  from  silver  to  gold.  They  have  is- 
sued what  purported  to  be  convertible  notes  on  con- 
ditions which  rendered  their  conversion  impossible ;  by 
monopolizing  the  products  of  the  mines,  shipping  bul- 
lion to  and  fro,  the  transference  of  securities^  making 
loans  or  calling  them  in,  they  have  been  able  to  swell 
or  shrink  the  volume  of  money  in  particular  states 
as  suited  their  interests.  Their  gains  from  these 
operations  have  been  inconceivably  large,  and  being 
directly  drawn  from  the  channels  of  industry,  the 
producing  classes  have  been  impoverished  and  re- 
duced to  a  state  of  vassalage, — the  profits  of  all  their 
toil  are  paid  as  a  tribute  to  the  money  lords. 

With  a  scientific  money  such  operations  would  be 

253 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

prevented,  and  the  honest  laborer  receiving  a  just  re- 
turn from  his  toil,  would  have  that  share  in  the  com- 
forts of  living  to  which  he  is  entitled. 

Since  silver  was  demonetized  and  gold  made  the 
money  of  final  payment,  the  only  real  money  under 
our  present  system,  it  has  been  peculiarly  fortunate 
for  the  laboring  classes  that  the  world's  production  of 
gold  in  recent  years  has  greatly  increased.  It  looks 
as  if  Providence  had  interfered  to  lighten  the  burdens 
of  the  people.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  unexpected  in- 
crease in  the  production  of  gold,  before  now  there 
would  have  resulted  a  condition  of  poverty  and  dis- 
tress intolerable  to  human  endurance,  and  unparalleled 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  Notwithstanding  the 
increased  production  of  gold,  if  the  present  robber 
system  is  continued,  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when 
a  few  men  will  own  all  the  gold,  and  the  producing 
classes  be  at  the  mercy  of  their  extortion  and  op- 
pression. 

This  is  no  speculative  exaggeration.  Already  one 
hundred  men  in  the  Utiited  States  can  be  named, 
whose  combined  money  holdings  are  more  than  half 
of  the  nation's  wealth.  They  have  monopolized  all 
public  utilities,  mining  and  manufacturing.  Air  and 
water  have  hitherto  been  referred  to  as  free;  but  the 
water  supply  of  the  cities  has  for  years  been  monop- 
olized by  private  individuals;  and  having  wasted  the 
timber  of  the  forests  and  the  coal  under  the  ground, 
they  see  that  water  power  in  the  future  must  take 
the  place  of  steam,  for  lack  of  fuel,  and  just  as  fast 
as  they  can,  they  are  monopolizing  the  water  power 
of  our  rivers. 

President  Roosevelt's  message  to  the  Congress  in 
1908,  when  he  laid  bare  this  matter,  was  the  most 
important  of  his  administration.  The  near  future  will 
see  airships  perfected,  and  as  soon  as  they  are,  they 

254 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

will  be  monopolized,  the  heavens  will  be  carefully 
mapped,  and  franchises  secured  on  the  air  spaces  above 
us,  in  which  to  sail  their  airships.  Thus  are  the 
people  robbed  of  the  benefits  of  improved  methods 
of  production  and  invention,  chiefly  by  means  of 
our  false  money  system. 

Money  is  too  great  a  power,  its  agency  for  good  or 
evil  too  comprehensive y  the  happiness  cmd  welfare  of 
the  people  too  vitally  and  inseparably  connected  with 
it,  for  its  control  to  he  entrusted  to  private  individuals, 
who  invariably  employ  it  for  their  own  selfish  inter- 
est, to  the  oppression  of  the  masses. 

The  Government  should  and  must  control  money. 
There  must  he  an  abandonment  of  private  or  so-called 
"free  coinage."  Justice,  and  the  welfare  of  the  in- 
dustrial classes,  demand  these  reforms  at  once.  Coin- 
age, the  making  and  regulation  of  money,  is  the  prop- 
er, constitutional  prerogative  of  the  Government 
alone. 

Directly  connected  with  the  Treasury  Department, 
and  completely  under  its  supervision,  should  be  a  cen- 
tral government  bank  of  issue,  and  it  should  be  the 
only  bank  of  issue,  that  money  might  be  fixed  and 
maintained  at  a  definite  volume,  so  that  values  would 
at  all  times  be  measured  with  equity  and  precision, 
and  the  stability  of  prices  secured.  Then,  with  a  limit 
placed  upon  individual  fortunes,  and  monopoly  of  pub- 
lic utilities  prevented  by  Government  ownership  and 
control,  the  hoarding  of  money  by  private  individuals 
could  never  be  of  sufficient  extent  to  seriously  disturb 
prices. 

"King  Charles  of  England  rewarded  and  encour- 
aged the  pirate  Morgan,  finally  conferring  upon  him 
the  distinction  of  knighthood,  apparently  for  no  other 
reason  than  to  attract  into  the  coffers  of  the  London 
goldsmiths  the  metal  upon  which  such  evaded  imposts 

255 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

would  have  been  levied.  At  the  same  time  he  forbade 
the  coinage  of  silver  at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  and 
completely  surrendered  to  the  London  goldsmiths  the 
royal  prerogative  of  money.  Thus  he  bargained  away 
the  measure  of  value  upon  which  has  ever  depended 
and  will  still  depend,  the  sharing  of  public  burdens 
and  the  distribution  of  all  wealth."  "Under  this  legis-  ^ 
lation  the  royal  prerogative  was  placed  in  abeyance, 
and  beyond  the  power  of  the  crown  simply  to  deter- 
mine the  ratio  between  gold  and  silver,  the  Govern- 
ment practically  gave  up  all  control  of  money.  Even 
the  power  of  the  crown  over  the  ratio  was  suspended 
in  1816.  In  this  manner  was  silver  demonetized  in 
England,  and  the  control  of  money  surrendered  to  pri- 
vate hands.  By  the  operation  of  an  obscure  and  un- 
noticed clause  in  the  Mint  Act  of  1870,  all  that  re- 
mained of  the  power  reserved  to  the  crown  to  termi- 
nate the  suspension  of  its  right  to  regulate  the  ratio 
was  removed;  and  thus,  the  last  remnant  of  the  royal 
or  Government  prerogative  over  money  passed  into 
private  hands.  Practically  since  1816,  the  measure 
of  value,  for  the  vast  transactions  of  the  British  Em- 
pire has  been  metal  controlled  in  volume  and  ratio 
by  private  individuals,  instead  of  money  which  may 
be  limited  in  volume  by  legislative  enactment,  and 
counted  by  tale  instead  of  by  weight  and  fineness." 

Money  has  therefore  been  practically  given  to  the 
control  of  a  class  whose  chief  interest  is  to  make 
both  it  and  the  Government,  through  the  power  of 
money,  subservient  to  their  own  selfish  advantage. 
"From  the  day  the  royal  voluptuary  resigned  a  pre- 
rogative which,  more  than  any  other,  pleads  for  king- 
ly or  Government  control,"  to  the  present,  the  com- 
mercial community  has  been  subjected  to  alternate  pe- 
riods of  monetary  contraction  and  expansion,  in  which 
the  profits  of  production  in  one  period  are  stolen  from 

256 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  people  in  another.  In  the  suspension  of  banks 
of  issue,  losses  have  occurred  to  note  holders  and 
others,  amounting  to  more  than  all  the  gold  and  silver 
in  the  w^orld,  several  times  over.  Not  only  this,  the 
surrender  of  the  prerogative  of  coinage  has  estranged 
the  people  from  fidelity  and  loyalty  to  the  crown  and 
the  Government;  and  the  disintegrating  eifect  on  so- 
ciety is  alarmingly  apparent.  On  account  of  it,  the 
peace  and  autonomy  of  governments  are  in  jeopardy. 

It  is  a  common  saying  that  "supply  and  demand 
control  prices."  With  a  scientific  money  of  fixed  vol- 
ume, supply  and  demand  would  determine  worth  and 
value,  and  thereby  prices;  but  with  a  commodity  mon- 
ey of  indefinite  volume,  controlled  by  private  individ- 
uals who  can  at  will  contract  or  expand  it,  prices  rise 
or  fall  according  to  the  volume  of  money  in  cir- 
culation. 

Value,  which  is  worth  in  transmission  or  transmis- 
sable  by  exchange,  is  entirely  independent  of  the  cost 
of  production ;  therefore  price,  which  is  the  numerical 
expression  of  value  as  measured  by  money,  is  not 
influenced  by  "cost  of  production."  Sometimes  by 
artificially  cutting  down  the  supply,  or  by  increasing 
the  demand,  the  increase  in  price  is  charged  to  "cost 
of  production,"  but  such  charge  is  false. 

"Cost  of  production"  is  a  stock  argument  of  mar- 
ket manipulators,  but  control  of  prices  by  that  means 
is  illogical,  and,  with  a  scientific  money  and  the  pre- 
vention of  combines  and  monopoly,  practically  impos- 
sible. Mr.  Delmar  says  that  "money  measures  val- 
ue by  expressing  it  in  price."  Again  he  is  so  nearly 
correct  that  it  is  a  pity  he  is  wrong.  Money  meas- 
ures value  by  concealing  it  in  representative  worth, 
as  in  an  envelope,  and  price  expresses,  or  indicates, 
the  value  in  numerical  money  symbols.  He  says 
"Price  is  the  numerical  relation  of  commodities  ex- 

257 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

pressed  in  money  symbols,"  when,  as  we  have  shown, 
price  is  the  numerical  expression  of  value  as  mectsured 
by  money.  The  number  of  commodities  to  be  ex- 
changed, together  with  the  number  and  rapidity  of 
exchanges,  their  intrinsic  worth  in  the  aggregate  di- 
vided by  the  numerical  volume  of  money  and  the 
value  of  each  commodity  and  service  thus  determined 
and  measured  by  money,  gives  its  logical  price. 

Mr.  Delmar's  definition  of  price  applies  as  part  of 
the  definition  of  value,  but  becomes  at  once  illogical 
when  applied  to  price.  The  purchasing  power  of 
money  is  not  only  greater  or  less,  according  as  the 
volume  of  money  is  inversely  less  or  greater,  but 
is  also  greater  or  less  as  determined  by  the  slowness 
or  the  rapidity  of  exchanges,  called  in  this  case  "ra- 
pidity of  circulation.'*  Our  merchants  watch  the  bank 
clearings  and  discounts  because  they  indicate  the  in- 
crease or  diminution  of  the  number  of  exchanges 
called  trade,  their  value  as  measured  by  money,  which 
is  a  controlling  factor  in  the  establisliment  of  prices. 

The  shipments  or  movements  of  gold,  as  the  law  of 
money  now  stands,  show  the  shrinkage  or  increase  of 
money  in  any  particular  state.  Gold  being  the  only 
real  money  under  the  present  system,  merchants  re- 
gard with  alarm  its  exportation,  and  are  apprehensive 
of  all  its  movements ;  but  if  we  had  a  scientific  money, 
merchants  would  not  have  to  watch  the  distracting 
changes  in  the  money  volume,  as  indicated  by  the 
"money  market."  For  a  scientific  money,  being  sim- 
ply a  numerical  measure  of  definite  volume  established 
and  controlled  by  the  Government,  and  not  a  com- 
modity controlled  by  private  individuals,  there  would 
be  no  "money  market"  to  watch ;  and  merchants  could 
give  their  whole  attention  to  the  legitimate  exchange 
of  commodities,  and  leave  the  regulation  of  money  to 

258 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  Government,  where,  by  constitutional,  and  every 
other  right,  it  belongs. 

Exchange  is  a  social  act.  No  man  can  exchange 
with  himself.  Exchange,  therefore,  implies  society. 
Exchange  is  based  on  equality  of  values,  and  has  its 
origin  in  the  social  needs  and  wants  of  mankind.  Mr. 
Delmar  says,  ''Value  is  the  basis  of  exchange,"  where 
again  he  makes  a  mistake;  for,  as  we  have  just  shown, 
exchange,  instead  of  being  based  on  values,  is  based 
on  equality  of  values.  This  distinction  may  appear  triv- 
ial; but  it  is  impossible  to  have  a  correct  understand- 
ing of  anything  unless  the  definitions  of  it  are  care- 
fully defined  and  restricted. 

Aside  from  its  scientific  character,  money  is  a  social 
instrument,  invented  by  man  for  man's  convenience 
in  making  exchanges  of  commodities;  and  Hkewise, 
"exchange  is  the  cement  that  holds  together  the  fabric 
of  society.  We  cannot  conceive  of  society  existing 
without  exchange,  nor  exchange  without  society." 

The  simple  exchange  of  commodities,  one  for  an- 
other, is  based  upon  their  relative  values,  and  not 
upon  their  cost.  This  simple  exchange  of  commodi- 
ties is  termed  barter.  The  nature  of  the  commodities 
exchanged,  other  than  their  relative  values,  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  principle  of  the  exchange.  In  the 
matter  of  barter  there  is  little  regard  for  precision, 
and  it  begins  and  ends  with  an  isolated  transaction. 
Money  is  designed  to  measure  the  value  of  things  with 
precision  and  equity.  Barter  is  a  crude  measure  of 
value  for  the  use  of  individuals.  Money  is,  or  should 
be,  a  scientific  measure  of  value  for  the  exchanges 
of  a  nation. 

Money  intrinsically  has  neither  worth  nor  value; 
but  it  has  representative  wvrth,  and  the  possessor  of 
money  is  entitled  to  a  certain  amount  of  worth  as  di- 
vided by  money.    When  a  man  having  money  wishes 

259 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

to  exchange  it  for  worth,  he  finds  the  worth  he  wants 
either  in  commodities  or  services,  which  are  rendered 
exchangeable  in  the  form  of  value,  the  measure  of 
that  value  in  money  is  indicated  by  price;  he  pays  the 
price,  and  the  commodities  or  services  then  belong  to 
him. 

For  the  very  reason  that  money  has  representative 
worth,  when  value  is  measured  by  money,  the  instru- 
ment of  the  measure  passes  from  the  hands  of  the 
buyer  into  the  hands  of  the  seller.  This  particular 
feature  of  representative  worth,  when  giving  money 
for  a  commodity  as  if  it  were  another  commodity  and 
a  matter  of  barter,  is  doubtless  the  chief  foundation 
of  the  false  theory  that  money  must  of  necessity  pos- 
sess intrinsic,  commodity  worth. 

A  scientific  money,  placed  against  the  aggregate  of 
worth,  as  a  divisor  of  the  same,  becomes  as  perfectly 
and  truly  representative  of  that  worth  as  the  precious 
metals  under  the  commodity  system  of  money;  and 
this  entirely  independent  of  any  intrinsic  worth  in 
the  money. 

Under  the  scientific  theory  of  money,  when  any- 
thing of  a  definitely  fixed  numerical  volume  is  mone- 
tised by  Government  edict,  it  is  no  longer  a  commod- 
ity, but  money;  and,  as  money,  a  legal  representative 
of  worth.  The  Government  stamp  upon  coin  of  the 
precious  metals,  bronze,  copper,  or  any  other  metal — 
or  upon  paper,  together  with  the  legislative  enactment 
that  the  money  so  stamped  shall  be  receivable  for  all 
dues,  public  and  private,  makes  it  money;  but  with- 
out the  monetizing  authority  of  the  Government,  it 
sinks  at  once  to  the  level  of  a  commodity.  Such  was 
the  case  with  silver;  when  it  was  demonetized,  it 
dropt  at  once  to  the  level  of  commodities. 

The  commodity  theory  of  money  invites  private 
manipulation  and  control.     Commodities,  singly  con- 

260 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

sidered,  are  neither  stable  in  quantity  or  number,  and 
when  used  as  money  with  the  false  theory  of  intrinsic 
commodity  worth,  may  change,  or  be  changed,  in  vol- 
ume and  purchasing  power  to  a  ruinous  extent ;  "so 
that  prices,  if  couched  in  such  commodity,  may  differ 
enormously,  even  in  adjacent  places;  and  contracts 
based  upon  a  commodity  current  in  a  past  generation 
may  serve  to  enslave  the  present  one."  Barter  and 
the  commodity  theory  of  money,  reduce  the  producing 
classes  to  a  condition  of  poverty  and  slavery;  but  a 
scientific  money  would  mean  freedom,  and  an  equitcu- 
ble  distribntion  of  wealth. 

It  is  a  strange  fact  that  the  ancients  had  a  correcter 
and  clearer  conception  of  the  science  of  money  than 
moderns.  They  made  money  the  measure  of  value  by 
law  or  royal  authority,  and  they  made  the  "god  of 
freedom"  likewise  the  "god  of  money."  The  name  of 
this  god  was  "Liber  Pater,"  and  his  name,  synonym, 
effigy  or  symbol,  is  found  on  most  of  the  ancient  coins. 

The  commodity  theory  of  money  stimulates  the  ava- 
rice which  drives  a  people  to  despair.  Whenever  a 
tribute  is  levied  upon  a  people  beyond  their  ability 
to  pay,  poverty  and  ruin  is  the  inevitable  consequence. 
Private  or  ''free  coinage"  of  the  precious  metals  has 
reduced  the  monetary  systems  of  the  western  world 
to  one  of  barter,  which  in  the  United  States  is  little 
more  than  a  system  of  barter  for  gold. 

In  England,  since  1666,  the  limit  to  the  volume  of 
money  has  been  the  produce  of  gold  and  silver  from 
the  mines,  less  the  amount  of  these  metals  absorbed 
into  the  arts,  plus  the  paper  note  currency  used  as  a 
substitute  for  money.  It  is  commonly  asserted  that  the 
increase  in  commerce  gave  rise  to  open  mints  and 
private  coinage.  The  increase  in  commerce  was  made 
an  excuse  for  it,  for  the  following  reasons :  The  com- 
modity theory  of  money  being  the  accepted  theory 

261 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

upon  which  our  monetary  system  was  based,  and  gold 
and  silver  coins  of  a  certain  weight  and  fineness,  final- 
ly gold  alone  made  the  only  money  commodity,  the 
effort  was  made  to  encourage  an  increased  produc- 
tion of  the  precious  metals  to  meet  the  needs  and  re- 
quirements of  an  expanding  and  growing  commerce; 
but  the  very  laws  intended  for  the  benefit  of  commerce 
defeated  the  end  in  view,  by  giving  the  control  of 
money  to  private  hands. 

The  trail  of  gold  is  one  of  wars,  bloodshed,  crime 
and  death.  When  gold  was  discovered  in  California, 
in  the  mad  rush  for  the  gold  fields  the  road  across 
the  western  plains  could  be  traced  by  the  bleaching 
bones  of  men  and  animals.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  Alaska.  The  infernal  machinations  of  devils  never 
planned  a  greater  evil  to  mankind  than  the  theory  that 
gold  alone  is  money  and  its  volume  determined  by 
weight  and  fineness. 

The  increase  of  commerce,  referred  to  above,  so  far 
outstripped  the  supply  of  gold  and  silver  that  paper 
notes  began  to  be  used  as  substitutes  for  money.  Pa- 
per notes,  under  our  present  system,  are, not  money, 
but  a  substitute  for  money,  or  promises  to  pay;  but 
in  the  transactions  of  trade  they  are  used  in  place 
of  money,  and  their  use  has  so  increased  that  "from 
a  few  notes  first  issued  by  the  Bank  of  Sweden,  that 
in  1829  the  proportion  of  paper  notes  to  gold  and  sil- 
ver was  twenty-five  per  cent. ;  which  rose  in  1873  and 
1876  to  thirty-nine  per  cent.,"  and  at  the  present  time 
constitutes  fully  sixty-five  per  cent,  of  the  total  cir- 
culation. 

The  doctrine  that  money  consists  of  merely  pieces 
of  metal  stamped  by  the  Government  only  to  certify 
their  weight  and  fineness,  and  that  their  worth  as 
money  is  derived  from  the  cost  of  producing  such  me- 
talic  contents,  was  unknown  to  antiquity,  and  took  its 

262 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

rise  in  what  is  called  the  ^'Mercantile  System,"  in  the 
1 6th  and  17th  centuries.  Its  utter  fallacy  can  easily 
be  demonstrated. 

"Erase  from  coins,  or  from  paper  notes,  that  line 
of  the  law  which  gives  names  and  legal  tender  qual- 
ity (almost  the  only  remaining  relic  of  the  ancient 
institution  of  money),  and  money  would  cease  to  ex- 
ist."    Alexander  Delmar. 

The  existing  system  treats  worth  as  a  thing,  and 
gold  as  that  thing;  when  worth  is  not  a  thing  at  all, 
but  consists  in  the  intrinsic  quality  of  commodities 
and  services  which  meets  human  needs,  wants  and 
desires,  as  determined  by  their  usefulness,  their  neces- 
sity, or  their  desirability ;  and  value  is  that  worth  when 
in  transmission  or  transmissible  by  exchange;  there- 
fore, worth  that  is  not  transmissible  by  exchange  has 
no  value. 

In  law  and  custom,  worth  is  called  value,  and  value, 
worth ;  hopelessly  confusing  to  the  understanding.  For 
instance,  the  law  ascribes  value  to  money,  when  it 
means  representative  zvorth;  it  declares  the  gold  dollar 
the  "unit  of  value,"  when  it  means  (if  it  means  any- 
thing) the  unit  of  representative  zn/orth;  for  under  a 
correct  definition  of  money  it  has  no  value.  How  is 
it  possible,  then,  to  make  a  unit  of  something  that  does 
not  exist?  Under  the  present  system  of  money,  there 
is  no  fixed  limitation  to  the  volume  of  money;  there- 
fore, it  is  impossible  to  fix  a  unit  of  representative 
worth,  or  unit  of  money  in  its  true  sense.  "Still 
the  law  ordains  that  each  one  of  its  numberless  so- 
called  'units  of  value'  called  dollars,  etc.,  shall  be  the 
measure  of  value  in  every  exchange;  and  it  also  com- 
pels these  so-called  'units  of  value'  to  be  accepted  in 
lieu  of  commodities  and  services,  and  for  taxes,  fines, 
and  judicial  awards.  The  law  says,  practically,  'You 
shall  pay  a  unit  of  something  which  Aristotle  never 

263 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

discovered ;  you  shall  be  taxed  ten  units  of  something 
which  is  not  described  in  the  present  law,  and  of  which 
every  one  at  the  present  time  has  a  different  concep- 
tion/ " — Alexander  Delmar. 

Money  being  an  institution  of  man's  creation,  gov- 
ernments can  make  its  volume  larger  or  smaller  at 
their  pleasure;  and  under  the  present  system,  private 
individuals  can  make  the  volume  more  or  less  at  will 
for  their  own  selfish  advantage ;  while  such  is  the 
case,  it  is  impossible  for  money  to  be  a  precise  meas- 
ure of  value. 

The  measures  of  time  and  space  are  arbitrary  stand- 
ards, but  they  are  definitely  fixed  by  human  laws; 
therefore,  they  measure  with  precision;  but  money 
has  never  been  scientifically  determined  and  limited 
by  law,  and  hence  it  is  at  all  times  an  imperfect  meas- 
ure of  value,  and  often  unjust  as  well. 

Mr.  Delmar  says,  *'The  value  of  money  varies  in- 
versely as  its  quantity.  Here  again  Mr.  Delmar's 
idea  is  correct,  but  his  terms  are  confusing,  because 
erroneous.  Had  he  said  the  representative  worth  or 
purchasing  power  of  money  varies  inversely  as  its  nu- 
merical volume,  his  statement  would  have  been  cor- 
rect. 

When  left  to  the  natural  operation  of  economic 
law,  the  prices  of  commodities  as  compared  with 
services  have  a  tendency  to  fall.  It  appears  to  be  a 
compensative  law  of  nature  seeking  to  equalize  the  in- 
equalities of  fortune,  and  to  rectify  the  defects  of  dis- 
tribution. Only  one  way  has  been  discovered  to  de- 
feat that  benign  economic  law,  and  that  way  was  dis- 
covered by  the  money  lenders.  It  was  to  alter  the 
ancient  and  scientific  law  of  money,  to  wrest  its  con- 
trol from  the  Government,  to  acquire  for  themselves 
the  privilege  of  private  coinage,  to  turn  money  into 
some  commodity  of  limited  supply  which  they  could 

264 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

control,  and  to  require  that  taxes,  debts,  and  con- 
tracts shall  be  paid  in  specific  quantities  of  that  com- 
modity. And  they  settled  upon  gold  as  that  com- 
modity; by  monopolizing  which  they  have  reversed 
the  economic  law  of  nature  in  so  far  that,  while  they 
were  unable  to  prevent  the  comparative  increase  in 
the  worth  of  services,  they  have  prevented  the  produc- 
ing classes  from  realizing  the  full  value  of  their  ser- 
vices, because  that  value  is  measured  by  their  monop- 
olized commodity,  gold.  They  are,  therefore,  able 
to  purchase  services  at  an  always  declining  price. 

Instead  of  production  governing  price,  it  is  pre- 
cisely the  reverse;  price  governs  production.  Price 
may  be  reduced  to  a  point  where  production  must  of 
a  necessity  cease;  or  by  increasing  the  price,  produc- 
tion may  be  encouraged. 

The  definitely  fixed  measures  of  time  and  space 
measure  with  scientific  certitude,  and  a  scientific  mon- 
ey would  measure  value  in  the  same  way.  We 
never  think  to  question  the  accuracy  of  the  measures 
of  time  and  space,  because  we  know  those  measures 
are  correct  and  never  vary;  and  money  should  be 
just  as  scientifically  determined  and  limited;  then 
there  could  be  no  question  as  to  the  precision  and 
equity  of  the  money  measure,  or  as  to  what  is  or  is 
not,  money. 

But  it  may  be  supposed  that  even  with  a  scientific 
money,  credit  obligations  between  individuals  would 
continue  to  be  expressed  in  notes  and  checks,  and 
would  be  substituted  for  money  to  a  very  Hmited 
extent;  but  such  obligations  would  be  an  entirely  in- 
dividual matter,  and  made  at  individual  risk.  It  might 
be  possible  to  prevent  individual  credit,  but  to  do 
so  would  restrain  the  freedom  of  trade.  All  that  is 
practicable  is  to  obviate  the  necessity  for  credits,  and 
that  a  scientific  money  would  accomplish. 

265 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

No  acknowledgment  of  debt  is  money.  Money  is 
national  instead  of  individual,  and  to  be  scientific, 
money  ha^  to  be  definitely  limited  in  numerical  vol- 
ume,  and  controlled  by  government. 

Money  grew  up  out  of  social  convention,  and  law 
interfered  to  govern  its  evolution;  therefore,  law  and 
convention  is  the  foundation  of  the  different  mone- 
tary systems.  In  evolution  there  should  be  a  perpet- 
ual progress  toward  perfection ;  but  where  human  in- 
tervention may  enter  to  aid  or  retard,  it  may  cause 
retrogression  instead  of  progress.  This  is  exactly 
what  has  happened  to  money.  Unfortunately,  the  law 
of  1666,  in  adopting  the  false  commodity  theory  of 
money,  set  back  the  evolution  of  scientific  money  for 
an  indefinite  period  of  time.  The  laws  enacted  since 
that  time  have  tended  further  to  obscure  the  true 
nature  of  money,  to  pervert  and  corrupt  its  use,  so 
that   the   retrogression   has   continued. 

While  it  is  impossible  to  construct  a  perfect  or  just 
monetary  system  on  the  false  commodity  theory,  yet 
the  Congress  could,  by  wise  laws,  make  several  bene- 
ficial improvements  in  our  present  system. 

Take  for  instance  our  national  banking  system, 
which  was  adopted  in  1864.  It  is  founded  almost  al- 
together on  false  theories,  particularly  the  one  of  se- 
curing one  debt  with  another  debt,  and  calling  it 
money;  but  if  it  is  to  continue,  several  important 
changes  should  be  made.  The  Comptroller  of  the 
Treasury  should  be  given  full  administrative  power 
over  banks,  and  his  orders  for  their  regulation  should 
have  all  the  authority  of  law.  Thus  invested  with  le- 
gal power,  he  could  correct  dangerous  practices,  and 
stop  the  violations  of  banking  laws.  A  law  should 
be  enacted  giving  greater  security  to  creditors  and 
depositors  of  banks,  by  prescribing  limits  to  the  dis- 
count of  commercial  paper  and  bills  of  exchange;  by 

266 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

putting  a  tax  upon  banks  to  create  a  fund  for  the 
guarantee  of  deposits. 

Experience  has  shown  that  the  majority  of  bank 
failures  have  been  caused  by  the  concentration  of 
funds  in  the  hands  of  single  or  allied  interests,  and 
this  practice  should  be  prevented  by  law.  Ample 
provision  for  the  enforcement  of  these  laws  should  be 
made,  by  giving  a  plentitude  of  authority  to  the  Comp- 
troller of  the  Treasury. 

In  the  absence  of  any  law  for  the  guarantee  of  bank 
deposits,  and  the  inadequate  and  imperfectly  defined 
powers  of  the  Comptroller,  the  most  that  he  can  at 
present  do  is  to  appeal  to  the  conservative  judgment 
of  the  directors  of  banks,  not  to  make  loans  or  dis- 
counts in  excess  of  the  statutory  restrictions. 

We  have  laws  which  were  intended  to  secure  the 
safety  of  depositors,  but  there  is  no  adequate  pro- 
vision for  their  enforcement;  with  the  result  that  the 
temptations  to  "frenzied  finance"  and  speculation  in- 
crease, and  banking  laws  are  constantly  violated.  The 
Comptroller  now  has  practically  only  an  advisory 
power;  he  should  have  more  than  that;  because  ef- 
fective regulation  of  banks  can  be  secured  only  by 
adequate  administrative  supervision. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

MONEY  A  PUBLIC  MEASURE  OF  VALUE — THE  GREAT  MIS- 
TAKE OF  SURRENDERING  IT  TO  PRIVATE  HANDS 

ABUSES  AND  EVILS  OF  THE  COMMOD- 
ITY THEORY 

It  has  been  said  that  "wealth  has  not  the  power 
to  add  to  the  largeness  and  liberty  of  life,"  but  it  has ; 

267 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

and  the  want  of  it  curtails  and  circumscribes  life's 
privileges,  blessings  and  enjoyments.  However,  great 
wealth  tends  to  separate  its  possessors  from  the 
brotherhood  and  sympathy  of  their  fellow  men,  to 
make  true  friendship  difficult,  to  cause  even  the  ten- 
ders of  love  to  be  suspected;  it  procures  criticism  if 
selfishly  used,  envy  and  hatred  if  used  for  oppression. 
In  the  main,  through  the  private  control  of  money,  it 
has  been  used  for  oppression. 

The  demonetization  of  silver  by  Act  of  the  Con- 
gress in  the  year  1873  was  disastrous  to  the  debtor 
class  whose  contracts  were  based  on  the  silver  dollar, 
and  entirely  in  the  interest  of  the  money  lenders.  The 
large  increase  in  the  production  of  gold  during  re- 
cent years  is  a  matter  of  alarm  to  the  money  lenders, 
"and  already  they  have  been  discussing  among  them- 
selves what  means  to  employ  to  avert  what  appears  to 
them  a  very  great  peril  to  their  interests." 

If  the  large  and  unprecedented  production  of  gold 
continues,  it  would  appear  strange,  but  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  the  money  lenders  will  demand  that  the 
mints  be  opened  to  the  coinage  of  silver  and  closed 
to  gold. 

The  great  reduction  made  in  the  country's  volume 
of  money  by  the  demonetization  of  silver,  has  been 
partly  made  up  by  the  increased  production  of  gold. 
This,  together  with  the  credit  currency  in  circulation, 
has  kept  the  people  measurably  satisfied  until  the 
present  panic,  produced  by  the  contraction  of  that 
same  currency. 

Gold  is  kept  out  of  general  circulation.  By  the 
enormous  consumption  of  gold  in  the  arts,  and  the 
control  exercised  over  it  by  the  money  lenders,  any 
plethora  of  gold  will  be  successfully  prevented.  In  time 
of  a  money  panic  wages  are  the  first  to  fall,  and  in 
the  resumption  of  normal  conditions  they  are  last  to 

268 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

rise,  so  that  wage-earners  are  made  to  suffer  jnost. 
Labor,  agriculture,  manufacture,  trade,  and  profes- 
sional services  suffered  great  loss  from  the  demoneti- 
zation of  silver,  while  a  few  thousand  individuals  who 
controlled  the  gold  of  the  country  amassed  enormous 
fortunes. 

"The  demonetization  of  silver  was  secured  by  the 
intrigue  of  the  money  lenders  and  the  cupidity  or  ig- 
norance of  unworthy  legislators.  The  pompous  Latin 
Unions,  the  Mint  Codes,  the  Revised  Statutes,  etc., 
were  traps  set  to  catch  the  unwary  and  enlist  the 
treacherous.  Those  dishonest  schemes,  surreptitious- 
ly employed,  have  uniformly  been  accompanied  by  an 
ostentatious  clamor  for  "honest  money."  For  more 
than  forty  years  in  this  country  the  money  lending 
class  have  dominated  the  financial  legislation  in  their 
own  interest  and  the  widespread  industrial  distress  is 
the  baneful  consequence.  "For  more  than  two  hun- 
dred years  the  money  lending  class  have  used  a  Pub- 
lic Measure,  the  coins  of  the  realm,  for  their  own  en- 
richment and  aggrandizement.  To  accompHsh  this  de- 
sign they  put  aside  all  scruples  of  conscience  and  pa- 
triotism, and  procured  the  altering  of  ancient  statutes 
by  treachery,  bribery  and  dissimulation." 

"Previous  to  the  reign  of  the  Stuarts,  the  entire  in- 
stitution of  money  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Govern- 
ment, where  by  every  right  it  belongs.  Money  is  a 
public  measure  of  value,  and  to  measure  with  precis- 
ion and  equity  it  is  demanded  that  its  numerical  vol- 
time  be  -fixed  and  unvarying^  entirely  removed  from 
private  control,  and  this  can  only  be  effectually  done 
by  Governmental  authority.  As  long  as  private  in- 
dividuals are  permitted  to  control  the  volume  of  mon- 
ey, they  will  make  its  purchasing  power  more  or  less, 
according  to  their  own  selfish  interests.  The  control 
of  money  is  an  enormous  power  which  the  Govern- 

269 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ment,  in  the  interest  of  the  people,  cannot  safely  dele- 
gate or  relinquish.  The  industrial  welfare  and  hap- 
piness of  the  people  is  too  completely  dependent  upon 
the  kind  and  volume  of  money  to  allow  its  issue  or 
control  by  private  authority.  "This  just  contention 
is  sustained  by  an  array  of  philosophical  authority  and 
legal  precedent  reaching  back  to  the  remotest  era  of 
the  Greek  republic." 

The  adoption  of  the  commodity  theory  of  money, 
the  prostitution  of  the  national  measure  to  private 
cupidity,  was  the  greatest  mistake  ever  made  by  civil- 
ized nations,  and  had  the  most  serious  and  far-reach- 
ing consequences.  The  effect  was  to  substitute  money 
lords  for  the  feudal  lords  of  the  ancient  monarchies, 
and  the  vassalage  of  the  people  has  continued  but 
little  less  complete;  and  the  aristocracy  of  blood  has 
only  been  changed  to  a  plutocracy  of  money. 

The  assumption  that  the  worth  of  coin  is  fixed  by 
the  cost  of  production  is  false.  The  theory  that  money 
must  be  a  commodity  of  greatly  concentrated  worth, 
and  that  worth  determined  by  the  cost  of  production, 
cannot  be  true ;  for  down  to  the  sixteenth  century  the 
chief  cost  of  coins  was  "rapine,  slavery  and  mur- 
der"; neither  have  circumstances  or  cost  of  produc- 
tion anything  to  do  with  value  which  arises  imme- 
diately from  exchange,  a  social  act. 

The  numerical  volume  of  money  is  the  main  con- 
trolling factor  over  price;  but  the  number  of  commodi- 
ties to  be  exchanged,  and  the  supply  of  particular 
commodities  and  the  demand  for  them,  are  factors  in 
determining  their  value  by  exchange.  Production 
governs  the  supply  of  particular  commodities ;  the  sup- 
ply and  the  demand  which  depends  on  custom  and 
use,  when  not  interfered  with  by  monopolization  have 
a  regulating  influence  over  worth  and  value. 

There  enters  into  the  profits  of  production  the  ele- 

270 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ment  of  reproduction.  From  a  grain  of  corn  planted 
•you  may  grow  an  ear  of  corn ;  you  may  sow  a  bushel 
of  wheat,  and  from  it  reap  twenty  bushels.  The  soil, 
cultivated,  yields  nature's  natural  increase,  which  is 
the  only  real  wealth.  Food,  clothing,  all  the  neces- 
sary comforts  of  living,  come  from  the  cultivated  soil. 
Money,  in  itself,  possesses  none  of  these  qualities.  It 
has  intrinsically  no  power  of  reproduction,  yet  legisla- 
tion and  convention  have  given  to  it  a  wonderful  ab- 
sorptive power  in  interest  rates  and  money  profits, 
which  gathers  to  it  with  compelling  force  the  increase 
of  all  production. 

Whenever  the  contraction  of  the  currency  proceeds 
to  the  point  of  a  commercial  crisis,  the  practice  of  the 
Government  has  been  to  issue  Treasury  notes.  True, 
it  is  only  a  bolstering  up  of  a  bad  system,  but  it  has 
to  be  done,  not  only  in  the  commercial  interest  of  the 
people,  but  to  save  the  system  itself.  "A  feast  or  a 
famine''  applies  to  our  money  system  according  as  the 
credit  currency  is  increased  or  contracted. 

The  volume  of  money  should  be  definitely  fixed  by 
the  Goz^ernment,  relative  to  population,  variety  and 
extent  of  production.  The  New  World  with  its  vast 
resources  of  soil  and  forest,  and  mine,  is  being  rapid- 
ly deflowered,  and  industrial  conditions,  when  age  of 
country  and  comparative  densities  of  population  are 
considered,  are  no  better  than  in  the  Old  World, 
caused  by  the  greed  of  our  money  lords,  encouraged 
and  rewarded  by  a  bad  money  system. 

The  25th  of  February,  1862,  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  passed  an  Act  authorizing  the  issuance 
of  Treasury  notes,  and  for  making  them  a  legal  ten- 
der for  all  debts,  public  and  private,  except  customs 
duties  and  interest  on  the  public  debt.  In  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,  at  Washington, 
D.  C,  it  was  held  in  1868  that  legal  tender  Treasury 

271 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

notes  were  a  good  tender  for  gold  and  silver  coin. 
Brown  vs.  Rhodes,  7  Wallace  Reports.  In  1869,  the 
Supreme  Court  held  that  legal  tender  notes  ("green- 
backs") were  a  valid  tender  for  dollars.  Hepburn 
vs.  Griswold,  8  Wallace  Reports. 

After  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  in  1861, 
in  consequence  of  the  failures  of  numerous  banks 
and  the  purely  local  credit  of  the  banks,  and  the  re- 
stricted local  circulation  of  surviving  state  bank  notes, 
which  formed  the  principal  part  of  the  circulation  of 
the  country  previous  to  the  war,  the  currency  became 
greatly  contracted.  In  1862  prices  fell  so  low  as  to 
occasion  a  profound  depression  in  trade,  and  an  un- 
precedented number  of  commercial  bankruptcies.  It 
was  in  this  year  that  "greenbacks/'  or  properly  speak- 
ing United  States  Legal  Tender  Treasury  Notes, 
were  first  issued.  Almost  at  once,  and  as  if  by  magic, 
trade  revived. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  succeeding  issues  of 
these  and  other  notes,  trade  continued  to  flourish,  and 
conditions  became  more  prosperous  with  the  common 
people  than  were  ever  known  before.  The  per  capita 
circulation  was  more  than  doubled  in  the  space  of  three 
years.  With  the  close  of  the  war  the  rehabilitation  of 
the  South,  and  the  addition  of  several  million  popula- 
tion to  employ  the  additional  currency,  the  per  capita 
circulation  was  somewhat  diminished.  The  demone- 
tization of  silver  following  in  1873,  the  contraction  of 
the  currency  continued,  causing  very  great  loss  and 
distress. 

The  amount  of  money  claimed  to  be  in  circulation 
becomes  more  and  more  misleading.  For  instance,  it 
is  maintained  that  there  is  more  money  in  circulation 
now  than  there  was  in  1866;  but  the  principal  part 
of  it  is  in  the  hands  of  monopolies,  and  the  actual 

272 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

circulation  among  the  common  people  is  not  half  what 
it  was  thirty-five  years  ago. 

Laws  are  the  legal  enactments  of  human  govern- 
ments, prescribing  rules  of  action  for  human  conduct, 
and  the  regulation  of  human  affairs.  They  are  wise 
or  unwise  as  they  conserve  the  ends  of  justice  and 
promote  the  common  welfare,  or  fail  therein.  A  law, 
to  be  just,  must  be  founded  on  a  correct  principle.  A 
good  law  cannot  be  framed  on  a  bad  principle.  The 
Government,  with  all  its  great  power,  cannot  even  by 
law  change  a  scientific  impossibility  into  a  reality.  It 
has  endeavored  by  law  to  make  metal  money ;  but  met- 
al is  a  commodity,  it  is  not  scientific  money,  and  no 
legislation  can  make  it  such. 

It  is  true,  as  stated  by  Aristotle  so  many  centuries 
ago,  that  money  is  an  institution  of  law ;  but  to  be 
real  money  in  a  scientific  sense,  it  has  to  conform  to 
the  scientific  principle  of  money,  which  is  directly  op- 
posed to  the  commodity  theory.  The  scientific  prin- 
ciple of  money  is  entirely  separate  and  distinct  from 
any  substance.  Its  foundation  is  in  abstract  maihe- 
matics,  a  numeral  measure  of  value  and  divisor  of 
worth.  The  only  use  for  any  material  for  money  is 
something  on  which  to  inscribe  the  concrete  numeral 
symbols  of  which  the  volume  of  money  is  composed. 
The  erroneous  commodity  theory  must  be  eliminated. 

The  Government  alone  has  the  prerogative  of  mak- 
ing money,  and  whatever  it  declares  to  be  money  has 
to  be  accepted  as  such,  no  matter  what  the  material 
or  the  system  adopted ;  but  even  with  the  fiat  of  law, 
it  is  not  scientific  money  unless  it  is  simply  made  a 
numerical  measure  of  value,  fixed  in  amount,  and  con- 
trolled by  governmental  authority.  With  the  com- 
modity feature  eliminated,  the  material  ceases  to  be 
matter  for  consideration  except  as  to  certain  qualities 

273 


rrHE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

fitting  it  for  coinage  impression,  inscription,  durability, 
convenience,  etc. 

Under  the  present  commodity  system  prices  of  ser- 
vices and  commodities  do  not  simultaneously  rise  and 
fall  together  in  the  expansion  or  contraction  of  the  cur- 
rency. If  they  did,  it  would  make  small  difference 
to  the  community ;  for  the  laborer  could  still,  with  his 
reduced  wages,  buy  the  same  amount  of  commodities 
to  live  on;  but  the  fact  is  they  do  not  rise  and  fall 
together;  wages  are  the  first  to  fall,  and  the  laborer 
must  reduce  his  purchases.  In  case  of  expansion,  the 
prices  of  commodities  are  first  to  rise,  and  the  cost 
of  living  is  enhanced.  The  wage  earners  are  forced 
to  lose  either  way.  "This  fact  was  first  attentively 
noticed  by  Hume ;  it  escaped  the  attention  of  Dr.  Adam 
Smith,  but  was  observed  by  Mill." 

A  scientific  universal  money  cannot  be  established 
without  a  universal  government.  Such  a  government 
might  be  formed  by  federating  the  powers  into  one 
international  government,  on  the  same  principle  that 
the  United  States  is  formed.  That  could  be  done 
without  affecting  either  the  autonomy  or  the  form  of 
the  different  governments,  simply  by  uniting  in  an 
international  federal  constitution,  and  establishing 
upon  it  an  international  Congress.  A  permanently  es- 
tablished Federal  Congress  of  the  nations,  based  on 
an  international  constitution,  ratified  by  the  signatory 
powers,  could  make  a  scientific  international  money; 
but  in  the  absence  of  such,  the  best  that  can  be  done 
is  the  adoption  of  an  international  money  for  interna- 
tional trade ;  that  is,  a  money  acceptable  to  the  civilized 
commercial  nations.  We  wish  it  understood  that  our 
theory  of  a  scientific  money  includes  an  international 
money  for  use  in  international  trade,  separate  and 
apart  from  the  money  of  governments.    The  money  of 

274 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

each  government  would  thereby  he  kept  at  home  and 
its  volume  maintained  at  a  fixed  standard. 

The  ablest  logicians  of  all  countries,  from  Aristotle 
to  John  Stuart  Mill,  have  tried  to  define  value.  Mod- 
ern writers  have  completely  failed,  because  they  have 
agreed  that  value  is  a  thing  when  it  is  not.  Alexander 
Delmar  recognized  this  fact,  but  confused  all  his  ar- 
guments by  using  value  and  worth  interchangeably. 

The  influence  of  the  velocity  of  circulation  on  prices 
was  long  since  discussed;  but  in  the  discussion  of  the 
subject  they  have  utterly  confused  their  ideas  in  the 
unrestricted  use  of  terms  and  their  failure  to  under- 
stand the  principle  of  representative  worth  of  money 
in  which  consists  its  purchasing  power.  In  1691,  John 
Locke  wrote,  "This  shows  the  necessity  of  some  pro- 
portion of  money  to  trade;  but  what  proportion  that 
is,  is  hard  to  determine,  because  it  depends  not  barely 
on  the  quantity*  of  money,  but  on  the  quickness  of 
its  circulation." 

During  the  early  part  of  the  Bank  of  England  sus- 
pension, Henry  Thornton  wrote,  "It  is  on  the  de- 
gree of  the  rapidity  of  circulation,  cofnbined  with 
the  consideration  of  quantity,  and  not  on  quantity 
alone,  that  the  value  of  the  circulating  medium  de- 
pends." He  uses  the  term  value,  when  he  means 
the  representative  worth  or  purchasing  power  of  mon- 
ey, or  the  circulating  medium.  Also,  like  all  the  others, 
his  deductions  are  taken  from  the  commodity  theory, 
and  he  uses  the  word  quantity  for  volume.  Quantity 
belongs  to  commodities,  but  not  to  scientific  money. 
More  than  half  a  century  later,  John  Stuart  Mill 
wrote,  "The  value  of  money  is  inversely  as  its  quan- 
tity multiplied  by  what  is  called  the  rapidity  of  cir- 

*For  scientific  Money  it  would  be  volume  instead  of 
quantity. 

275 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

culation."  Here  he  makes  the  same  mistake  as 
Thornton,  by  using  the  term  value  when  he  means 
representative  worth,  or  purchasing  power.  The  pur- 
chasing power  of  money  is  inversely  as  its  numerical 
volume  multiplied  by  the  rapidity  of  circulation.  In 
1864,  Alexander  Delmar  wrote,  "With  improved 
means  of  doing  business,  (including  the  use  of  cred- 
its,) and  with  increased  rapidity  in  transporting  mon- 
ey and  commodities,  a  lesser  quantity  of  money  than 
formerly  may  be  used  for  the  same  amount  of  ex- 
changes, because  the  same  pieces  of  money  will  per- 
form a  greater  number  of  offices."  This  statement 
is  correct  in  every  particular,  but  its  application  is 
to  the  present  system  of  money.  With  a  scientific 
money  there  would  be  a  full  volume  of  money,  and 
while  credits  would  still  be  used  limitedly,  they  would 
be  quite  unnecessary,  and  entirely  of  an  individual 
character.  Extensive  credits  used  in  the  place  of 
money  is  one  of  the  principal  evils  of  the  present 
system. 

Swan  wrote,  "The  value  to  be  measured  is  compared 
with  a  value  well  understood,  just  as  a  length  to  be 
measured  is  compared  with  a  length  well  understood; 
but  there  is  this  difference,  that  while  length  is  a 
physical  property,  and  quite  fixed  in  a  given  article, 
value  is  only  a  human  estimate  of  desirability,  and 
must  be  to  some  degree  of  a  fluctuating  nature,  even 
as  regards  the  same  article."  This  statement  is  un- 
intentionally involved.  The  comparison  made  is  be- 
tween the  values  of  other  like  commodities,  and  not 
with  the  money  measure.  After  the  comparison  is 
made,  the  value  is  measured  with  money.  His  next, 
that  a  length  to  be  measured  is  compared  with  a 
length  well  understood,  is  also  confusing,  though  in- 
tended to  be  plain.  The  measure  that  measures  length 
measures  width  or  height  as  well.     The  purpose  is 

2y6 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

to  determine  the  dimensions  of  an  object,  and  the 
comparison  made  is  between  like  or  unHke  dimensions 
of  other  objects,  and  not  with  the  instrument  by  which 
it  is  measured. 

An  instrument  to  measure  length  does  not  neces- 
sarily have  to  have  height  or  width,  and  a  hair  will 
measure  either  as  well  as  a  yard-stick.  We  do  not 
say  "so  many  yardsticks  of  cloth,"  nor  "so  many 
yardsticks  of  land,"  nor  "so  many  yardsticks  ot 
water,"  nor  "so  many  yardsticks"  of  anything.  We 
may  say  "so  many  yards  of  cloth,"  but  the  stick  is 
not  mentioned,  because  cloth  is  made  of  fibre  woven  in 
a  loom,  and  not  of  yardsticks.  It  is  no  more  essential 
to  measure  value  with  value  than  it  is  to  measure  cloth 
with  cloth,  or  land  zvith  land. 

The  apparent  purpose  of  Mr.  Swan  was  to  show 
that  it  required  length  to  measure  length,  and  value 
to  measure  value;  and  that  is  just  where  the  false 
commodity  theory  of  money  enters.  Worth,  which 
is  a  human  estimate  of  the  usefulness  or  desirable- 
ness of  a  commodity,  is  influenced  by  custom,  supply, 
and  demand,  which  cause  a  natural  fluctuation  in 
values  and  a  corresponding  change  in  prices,  even 
with  the  same  volume  of  money;  but  these  natural 
fluctuations  mostly  apply  to  some  particular  commod- 
ities, usually  of  ornamentation  rather  than  usefulness, 
and  the  worth  and  the  values  of  commodities,  taken  all 
together,  particularly  the  necessities,  vary  very  little. 

The  fluctuations,  then,  are  of  price  and  not  of 
value,  caused  by  the  changing  volume  of  money  in 
circulation,  which  is  an  artificial  cause  instead  of  a 
natural  one.  The  certification  of  fineness  and  weight 
is  essential  when  the  metals  are  used  as  commodities, 
but  is  not  only  unnecessary  in  a  scientific  money,  it  is 
in  direct  opposition  thereto. 

After  the  commodity  theory  of  money  was  estab- 

277 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

lished,  impecunious  rulers  yielded  to  the  temptation  to 
speculate  by  altering  the  ratio,  weight  or  fineness  of 
the  metals;  but  the  chief  beneficiaries  of  such  specu- 
lation have  been  the  money-lenders,  who  have  con- 
trolled the  money  commodity  to  make  it  more  or  less, 
and  have  through  that  power  enslaved  the  people,  de- 
bauched public  morals,  and  corrupted  governments. 

The  plea  for  private  privileges  in  matters  affecting 
the  public  welfare  that  they  are  essential  to  personal 
liberty,  is  an  illogical  sophistry.  Whenever  private 
individuals  are  permitted  to  control  any  public  meas- 
ure or  policy,  the  people  therein  surrender  their 
rights.  Government  is  the  only  security  of  personal 
liberty  which  must  be  subordinated  to  the  superior 
rights  of  society.  The  granting  of  private  privileges 
in  contravention  to  the  right  of  society  is  the  very 
thing  that  destroys  personal  liberty.  The  people  rule 
in  the  voice  of  government  that  correctly  expresses 
their  zinll,  and  the  more  centraliised  and  powerful  that 
government,  if  it  be  tridy  representative,  the  more 
complete  their  authority,  the  more  secure  their  liber- 
ties. 

The  usurpation  of  public  functions  by  private  indi- 
viduals is  destructive  of  freedom ;  control  should 
be  in  the  government  alone.  Then,  if  the  government 
be  truly  representative  of  the  people,  the  aggres- 
sions of  private  monopolies  will  be  prevented. 
Above  every  other  government  function  in  impor- 
tance to  the  public  welfare,  is  that  of  making  money 
and  controlling  it  for  the  common  good. 


278 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 


CHAPTER  XXn. 

AN   IDEAL   SCIENTIFIC   MONEY   DESCRIBED. 

The  "greenback"  advocates  of  a  few  years  ago, 
though  so  much  abused  and  decried  by  the  "sound 
money"  theorists,  were  on  the  track  of  scientific 
money;  but  they  lost  the  trail  because  they  were  un- 
able to  get  away  from  the  commodity  idea,  in  that 
they  recommended  the  issuing  of  demand  notes,  over- 
looking the  fact  that  they  were  a  debt  against  the 
Government,  only  a  promise  to  pay  money,  and  if  the 
debt  were  paid  the  notes  would  be  cancelled.  Fur- 
thermore, if  the  debt  were  paid,  the  people  would 
have  it  to  pay,  because,  under  the  present  system,  the 
only  way  the  Government  can  raise  money  is  by  taxa- 
tion, which  comes  off  industrial  production.  With 
a  scientific  money  system,  it  is  the  province  and  the 
duty  of  the  Government  to  issue  real  money — not  de- 
mand notes — and  to  put  the  same  in  circulation 
through  government  hanks  as  a  part  of  the  system. 

With  a  credit  currency  under  the  present  system 
it  is  necessary  for  the  Government  to  make  purchases 
the  same  as  individuals,  in  order  to  put  its  notes  in 
circulation. 

An  ideal  scientific  money  would  he  a  government 
MONEY  for  each  Government,  issued  hy  the  Govern- 
ment, to  he  used  exclusively  for  home  exchanges,  the 
payment  of  all  home  dehts  and  public  dues.  In  addi- 
tion to  this,  there  shoidd  he  an  international  money 
issued  hy  an  international  congress,  suMcient  to  meet 
the  needs  of  commerce  hetween  the  nations.    When- 

279 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ever  this  international  money  happens  to  get  into 
local  circulation,  it  should  be  current,  dollar  for  dollar, 
with  the  government  money;  but  as  fast  as  received 
into  banks  should  be  remitted  at  once  to  the  central 
government  bank  for  deposit,  to  be  paid  out  only  on 
international  drafts.  By  that  means  no  considerable 
amount  of  it  could  at  any  time  enter  into  local  circu- 
lation to  the  demoralization  of  prices. 

Anything  could  be  used  to  make  scientific  money, 
provided  worth  of  material,  cost  of  production,  etc., 
were  entirely  eliminated  as  a  monetary  feature.  Even 
the  precious  metals  could  be  used  if  the  coins  were 
small  enough  and  of  uniform  size,  without  reference 
to  denomination,  stamping  an  eagle  on  the  same  sized 
pieces  as  a  dollar  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  it  was 
the  fiat  of  law,  the  coinage  stamp  of  government 
alone  that  made  it  money.  Gold  and  silver  in  bul- 
lion or  in  the  arts  should  be  regarded  just  the  same 
as  any  other  commodity,  their  value  to  be  measured 
by  money,  according  to  their  intrinsic  worth  in  the 
arts. 

Our  own  choice  of  a  money  material  would  be  the 
least  expensive  one  -fitted  for  the  purpose,  so  as  to 
effectually  destroy  the  commodity  idea.  Personally, 
we  believe  that  bronze  is  the  best  suited  for  coins. 
It  is  cheap,  durable,  takes  a  fine  impression — and 
there  would  be  no  danger  of  the  erroneous,  unscien- 
tific theory  of  necessary  intrinsic  worth  corrupting  its 
uses.  Paper,  on  account  of  its  lightness,  convenience 
and  cheapness,  is  a  very  desirable  material  for  a  scien- 
tific money.  Its  destructible  character  is  mostly  off- 
set by  the  fact  that  soiled,  worn,  or  mutilated  paper 
money  could  easily  be  sent  to  the  central  government 
bank,  and  new  money  issued  in  its  place.  Where  it 
happened  to  be  destroyed,  and  conclusive  proof  of  the 
same   was   made,    it   should   be   replaced    with   new 

280 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

money.  This  should  be  done  in  case  of  destruction 
by  fire  in  dwellings,  in  stores,  in  factories,  or  in  banks. 
This,  while  being  the  very  best  form  of  an  inexpen- 
sive insurance,  would  be  a  necessary  means  for  main- 
taining the  numerical  volume  of  money  at  a  fixed 
standard,  which  is  the  great  essential  feature  of  sci- 
entire  money,  in  making  it  a  precise  measure  of  value. 
Maintaining  its  numerical  volume  at  a  fixed  standard, 
its  purchasing  power  would  remain  unchanged,  and 
prices  would  only  vary  with  the  natural  causes  affect- 
ing the  worth  of  particular  commodities. 

There  would  be  no  more  changing  of  ratios,  no 
more  diverting  of  money  from  its  legitimate  use,  no 
more  melting  down  into  bullion;  the  only  way  the 
volume  in  circulation  could  be  reduced  would  be  by 
private  hoarding;  but  with  commercial  combines  and 
monopolies  broken  up  and  rendered  impossible  of 
existence  by  government  ownership  and  control  of  all 
public  utilities,  and  the  limitation  to  individual  for- 
tunes, there  would  be  more  profit  in  trade  than  in 
hoarding,  and  it  would  not  be  attempted  to  any  in- 
jurious extent. 

JVith  a  scientific  money  all  banks  should  be  govern- 
ment banks.  First,  a  central  Government  bank  of  issue, 
connected  with,  and  directly  under,  the  control  of  the 
treasury  department ;  the  others  to  be  branches  of  the 
central  bank,  directly  under  its  supervision,  and  all  un- 
der the  general  supervision  of  the  Government.  The 
bank  officials,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  from 
president  to  janitor,  should  be  paid  fixed  salaries  by 
the  Government.  Such  a  thing  as  bank  stock,  in  the 
present  meaning  of  that  phrase,  or  paid-up  capital, 
have  neither  place  nor  meaning  in  a  scientific  money. 
Each  bank  would  be  furnished  by  the  central  bank,  a 
numerical  amount  of  money,  in  proportion  to  local  per 

28l 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

capita  population  and  the  volume  and   requirements 
of  trade. 

The  extortions  of  money-lenders  have  oppressed  the 
people  of  all  governments,  in  all  ages  of  history. 
Money-lending  is  seen  to  be  a  great  power,  which 
private  individuals  abuse,  and  in  the  interest  of  the 
public  welfare  that  power  should  be  taken  out  of 
private  hands,  and  vested  in  the  government  banks. 
The  hmiks  alone  should  have  the  right  to  loan  money, 
at  a  rate  justly  based  on  the  profits  of  production  by 
the  Government.  When  any  man  has  more  money 
than  he  needs,  he  should  deposit  it  in  a  government 
bank,  and  should  be  paid  a  rate  of  interest  thereon 
equal  to  the  government  rate,  less  a  small  per  cent, 
necessary  to  pay  the  salaries  of  bank  officials  and  bank 
expenses.  Under  that  arrangement  he  would  receive 
all  the  interest  justly  due  him  on  his  money;  he  would 
be  put  to  no  risk  in  loaning,  or  expense  in  collection. 
The  Government  would  be  responsible  to  him  for 
the  money  and  the  interest  on  it,  which  would  entirely 
obviate  the  necessity  for  any  ''guarantee  of  deposits" 
law.  No  private  individual  should  he  allowed  to  loan 
money  to  another;  then  the  money-lending  extortioner 
would  no  longer  have  a  vocation. 

How  could  the  change  from  our  commodity  sys- 
tem of  money  to  the  scientific,  be  equitably  made? 
Could  the  change  be  made  independent  of  any  other 
power?  Easy  enough;  and  without  serious  disturb- 
ance, either  to  industry  or  the  "rights  of  property," 
by  taking  up  the  old  with  the  new. 

In  the  first  place,  though,  the  scientific  system 
should  be  definitely  incorporated  into  the  national 
constitution,  by  amendment.  Next,  there  should  be 
established  the  main  central  government  bank  of  is- 
sue, afterwards  its  branches.  The  mint,  of  course, 
would  be  a  part  of  the  central  bank. 

282 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

As  early  as  possible  the  new  money  should  be 
made  and  distributed  to  branch  banks.  The  private 
banks  under  the  old  system  should  be  taken  over  by 
the  Government,  and  whenever  practicable,  converted 
into  new  branch  government  banks.  The  holders  of 
the  old  bank  stock,  buildings  and  property,  should 
receive  in  the  new  money  or  deposit  certificates,  a 
just  valuation  of  their  buildings  and  property,  and 
dollar  for  dollar  for  their  specie,  less  the  amount  of 
their  outstanding  note  circulation,  which  the  Govern- 
ment should  redeem,  dollar  for  dollar,  tvith  the  new 
money,  and  cancel. 

All  specie  received  shoidd  be  sent  at  once  by  branch 
banks  receiving  it  to  the  central  bank  for  deposit  in 
the  Government's  "strong  box,"  and  to  be  held  by 
the  central  bank  as  the  international  money  till 
such  a  time  a^  the  other  nations  would  agree  to  adopt 
the  scientific  system  and  a  scientific  international 
MONEY.  Until  they  did  adopt  the  scientific  system, 
they  should  be  required  to  pay  gold  for  everything 
they  bought  from  us ;  and  by  holding  our  gold  as  an 
international  money  for  international  trade,  we  would 
be  prepared  to  pay  gold  for  all  we  bought  from  them. 
When  a  merchant  purchased  goods  in  a  foreign  coun- 
try, the  branch  government  bank  in  which  he  carried 
his  deposit  account  would  issue  to  him  an  interna- 
tional bank  draft,  payable  in  gold,  with  which  to  pay 
for  his  goods. 

Private  individuals,  being  forbidden  by  law  to  loan 
money,  could  not  do  otherwise  than  deposit  it  in  the 
banks ;  and  all  the  old  money  would  be  taken  up  as 
fast  as  received  into  the  banks  and  sent  to  the  central 
bank  for  deposit  as  international  money  in  the 
case  of  specie,  for  cancellation  in  the  case  of  notes. 

The  new  money  should  only  be  put  out  as  the  old 
was  taken  up,  until  all  the  old  money  was  practically 

283 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

out  of  circulation.  It  would  not  be  long  till  the  old 
money  would  practically  all  be  replaced  with  the  new, 
in  such  a  manner  that  no  honest  industry  or  interest 
would  suffer  loss.  Gold  and  silver  coins,  which  un- 
der the  scientific  system  would  for  an  indefinite  time 
constitute  the  international  money,  when  by  chance 
they  got  into  general  circulation,  should  pass  current, 
dollar  for  dollar,  with  the  new  money;  but  as  fast  as 
received  into  the  branch  banks,  should  be  sent  to  the 
central  bank  to  be  paid  out  by  it  only  on  international 
drafts.  In  that  manner  no  considerable  amount  of 
international  money  could  at  any  time  enter  the  chan- 
nel of  general  circulation.  When  the  old  money  was 
practically  all  taken  up  with  the  new,  then  the  circu- 
lation should  be  increased  by  government  loans  of 
money  as  the  needs  of  business  required,  till  the  maxi- 
mum standard  of  circulation  was  reached,  which  vol- 
ume thereafter  should  be  carefully  maintained. 

Imposts,  as  long  as  the  nations  are  barbarians 
enough  to  demand  them,  should  be  paid  in  interna- 
tional money.  Tariffs  on  imports  is  a  system  of  rob- 
bery, illogical  and  oppressive  to  industry ;  but  as  long 
as  other  nations  charge  us  a  duty  on  exports,  we 
would  be  compelled  in  self  defense  to  charge  them  a 
tariff  on  imports ;  but  as  fast  as  reciprocity  agree- 
ments can  be  effected,  duties  on  imports  should  cease. 

The  postal  department  of  the  Government  very 
nearly  pays  its  own  expenses,  even  under  the  present 
bad  system  and  poor  management.  Every  department 
of  the  G\overnment,  where  practicable,  should  he  made 
to  pay  its  own  way.  The  postal  revenues  should  pay 
all  the  expenses  of  the  postal  department.  The  in- 
terest on  money  loaned  should  pay  all  the  expenses 
of  the  treasury  department,  which  would  include 
the  whole  monetary  and  banking  system,  and  leave  a 
profit  to  the  Government.     The  operation  and  man- 

284 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

agement  of  public  utilities  should  be  under  the  secre- 
tory of  the  interior,  and  the  revenues  from  them 
should  be  sufficient  to  pay  for  keeping  them  up  and 
operating  them,  and  together  with  the  profits  of  bank- 
ing, and  impost  duties,  while  they  continue  to  be  lev- 
ied, should  pay  all  the  other  fiscal  expenditures  of 
the  Government  and  provide  a  revenue  for  the  ex- 
tension of  public  works,  for  national  defense,  and 
emergencies.  All  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  Gov- 
ernment should  be  conducted  through  the  central 
bank,  aided  by  the  branches.  The  branches  would  be 
simply  loan  and  deposit  banks,  but  the  Government 
could  make  such  deposits  of  revenues  with  them  as 
convenience  or  need  might  demand,  except  that  all 
specie,  the  international  money,  should  be  depos- 
ited in  the  central  bank  alone. 

The  war  department,  as  long  as  we  have  one,  will 
continue  an  enormous  dead  expense.  The  federation 
of  the  n-ations  into  one  universal  power,  as  contem- 
plated in  the  complete  theory  of  scientific  money,  is 
the  only  way  to  secure  permanent  peace,  and  the  dis- 
armament of  the  nations.  Until  such  time  we  will 
have  to  put  up  with  the  ruinous  cost  of  armies  and 
navies,  and  the  incalculable  loss  to  production. 

With  a  scientific  money  the  Government  should  keep 
and  reserve  to  itself  a  sufficiency  of  international 
money  to  meet  its  own  needs.  This  does  not  mean 
that  it  should  be  locked  up  in  the  treasury  vaults.  On 
the  contrary,  as  before  stated,  the  international  money 
(gold  and  silver  coins),  should  all  be  on  deposit  with 
the  central  government  bank,  except  that  the  govern- 
ment part  of  it  should  be  separate,  and  subject  only 
to  government  drafts.  The  remainder  would  at  all 
times  be  subject  to  individual  international  drafts, 
made  through  the  branch  banks.  Any  depositor  in 
a  branch  bank  would  be  entitled  to  make  such  draft, 

285 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

dollar  for  dollar,  but  only  for  international  trade, 
the  purchase  of  goods  abroad,  or  to  pay  expenses  of 
residence  or  travel  in  foreign  countries.  Any  one 
going  to  a  foreign  country  to  become  a  citizen, 
should  be  entitled  to  exchange  his  government  money 
for  international  money.  Where  remittances  were 
to  be  made  abroad,  whenever  possible,  such  remit- 
tances should  be  by  bank  drafts  issued  against  the 
central  banks  through  the  branch  banks.  In  most  in- 
stances settlement  could  be  made  thus  without  the 
shipment  of  international  money,  by  having  the  drafts 
made  payable  by  foreign  banks  with  which  the  central 
bank  kept  accounts.  The  people  should  be  kept  ad- 
vised of  the  names  and  locations  of  such  banks. 

Trade  with  foreign  nations  should  he  so  regulated 
as  to  prevent  paying  out  more  than  was  received. 
By  the  Government  taking  over  to  itself  for  public  uses 
the  amount  of  individual  fortunes  above  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  it  would  have  more  than  enough  to 
pay  the  national  indebtedness  and  for  all  public  utili- 
ties. Once  the  debt  is  cleared  away,  with  a  scientific 
money  there  is  absolutely  no  excuse  for  the  govern- 
ment ever  again  going  in  debt.  Any  public  improve- 
ment, the  intrinsic  worth  of  which  was  not  equal  to 
the  cost,  should  not  be  made;  but  if  the  intrinsic 
worth  of  the  work  or  improvement  to  be  made  is 
equal  to  the  cost,  the  Government  would  be  fully 
justified  in  issuing  the  money  to  pay  for  the  same. 
Even  as  colossal  a  work  as  digging  an  isthmian  canal, 
if  it  is  worth  the  cost  of  construction,  the  Govern- 
ment has  the  right  and  the  power  to  issue  the  money 
to  pay  for  it.  Nay,  more,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Gov- 
ernment so  to  pay  for  it,  and  avoid  fastening  an  oner- 
ous debt  on  the  people.  A  scientific  money,  being  a 
representative  of  worth,  if  additional  worth  is  created, 

286 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

the  Government  has  the  right  to  issue  a  corresponding 
amount  of  money. 

Under  the  present  system,  bonds  are  issued  to  get 
money  for  every  kind  of  public  improvement,  munici- 
pal, State  and  national.  Already  the  bonded  debt  of 
the  nation,  states,  counties  and  municipalities,  is  sev- 
eral times  the  amount  of  all  the  gold  in  the  world. 
And  yet  the  bonds  are  drawn  to  be  paid  in  gold,  prin- 
cipal and  interest. 

All  the  gold  in  the  world  would  not  be  sufficient 
to  pay  the  entire  aggregate  bonded  indebtedness  of 
the  people  of  this  country.  How,  then,  are  the  people 
to  pay  it?  It  constitutes  a  debt  on  the  gold  commod- 
ity basis,  large  enough  to  enslave  the  people  for  all 
time.  The  machinations  of  men  or  devils  never  in- 
vented a  more  despicable  form  of  slavery ;  yet  we,  in 
our  ignorance,  boast  of  being  a  free  people. 

The  bondholders  do  not  expect  that  much  of  the 
principal  will  ever  be  paid,  nor  do  they  desire  that 
it  should  be ;  what  they  want  is  the  interest,  paid  in 
gold,  which  is  sufficient  to  give  to  them  the  profits  of 
production.  The  continued  issuing  of  bonds,  though, 
is  the  only  way  to  get  money  for  public  improve- 
ments under  the  present  system;  because  they  cannot 
be  made  without  money,  and  as  the  people  have  no 
money,  they  are  obliged  to  go  to  the  money-lender 
and  give  him  bonds  for  money.  Usually  the  money 
they  get  is  some  form  of  credit  currency  that  as 
soon  as  it  is  spent  for  the  particular  object  in  view 
may  be  taken  up  at  any  time,  and  cancelled.  The 
bondholder  keeps  his  gold,  the  only  real  money,  and 
holds  a  bonded  debt  against  the  people  which  de- 
mands a  gold  payment,  principal  and  interest. 

In  all  these  public  transactions,  by  the  time  the 
money  is  spent,  the  bondholder  has  gotten  back  his 
money,  and  has  the  bonds  as  the  profit  of  the  trade. 

287 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Thus  are  the  people  enslaved  with  a  hopeless  burden 
of  debt.  With  a  scientific  money  this  burden  would 
be  remolded,  and  the  people  would  indeed  be  free.  It 
would  not  only  be  ^inneccssary  for  the  government  to 
go  in  debt,  it  would  be  criminal. 

We  know  our  scientific  theory  of  money  is  correct ; 
but  will  it  ever  be  adopted? 

The  people  are  more  completely  enslaved  by  our 
present  money  system  than  were  the  Israelites  under 
the  Pharaohs  of  Egypt.  The  Israelites  knew  who 
their  masters  were,  and  there  existed  for  them  a 
chance  to  escape  across  the  Sea  to  their  Promised 
Land;  but  in  the  bonded  debt,  in  the  private  control 
of  money  through  free  coinage  and  the  gold  stand- 
ard, in  the  management  of  banking  and  interest  rates, 
the  money  lords  of  this  country  have  a  more  com- 
plete mastery  of  the  people  than  the  Pharaohs;  for 
they  wield  what  is  to  the  people  an  irresistible,  intang- 
ible, incomprehensible  power,  which  they  are  unable 
to  comprehend.  They  only  know  that  debt  is  their 
taskmaster,  and  that  hunger  is  the  merciless  lash 
that  drives  them,  sick  or  well,  in  the  heat  of  summer 
and  the  snows  of  winter,  to  incessant  toil. 

You  sometimes  hear  a  laboring  man  congratulating 
himself  *'that  he  does  not  owe  a  dollar."  He  does 
not  know,  poor  fellow,  that  he  is  toiling  every  day 
to  pay  the  money  lord's  interest,  and  that  his  chil- 
dren's children  after  him  will  still  be  engaged  in  the 
same  hopeless  task. 

Other  reforms  are  of  little  use  while  the  people 
remain  in  a  condition  of  vassalage.  Let  them  first 
have  freedom,  and  an  honest,  scientific,  government- 
controlled  money  system  is  the  only  thing  that  will 
dispel  the  long,  dark  night  of  slavery  to  a  false,  Cor- 
rupt Money  Power,  and  usher  in  the  golden  day  of 
perfect  Liberty. 

288 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 


CHAPTER  XXni. 

CONCLUSION  OF  SCIENTIFIC  MONEY. 

The  numerical  volume  of  scientific  Government 
money  should  have  a  per  capita  basis ;  but  the  per 
capita  need  would  be  determined  by  the  number  of 
exchanges,  and  the  aggregate  worth  of  commodities 
and  services  exchanged,  or  exchangeable,  against 
which  the  money  would  be  placed  to  possess  their 
representative  worth ;  or,  in  common  parlance,  the 
per  capita  need  would  be  determined  by  the  require- 
ments of  trade.  A  commercial  people  would  need 
more  money  per  capita  than  an  agricultural  com- 
munity. 

For  our  own  country,  the  United  States,  we  be- 
lieve that  $ioo  per  capita  of  Government  money,  say 
$9,000,000,000,  would  be  about  the  right  volume  to 
equitably  represent  the  aggregate  wealth  of  the  na- 
tion. This  would  be  the  people's  money,  and  as  it 
could  not  be  used  outside  of  the  country,  its  volume 
could  not  be  reduced  by  shipments  abroad.  The  only 
way  to  reduce  the  volume  would  be  by  private  hoard- 
ing; but  with  a  limit  to  individual  fortunes,  and  mo- 
nopolies rendered  impossible  by  Government  own- 
ership and  control  of  all  pubHc  utilities,  private  hoard- 
ing could  not  be  done  to  any  very  harmful  extent; 
besides,  there  would  be  no  temptation  to  do  it,  be- 
cause it  could  not  be  made  profitable;  for  the  reasons 
that  while  it  was  hoarded  it  would  draw  no  interest, 
and,  if  they  could  succeed  in  enhancing  the  purchas- 
ing power  of  money  by  reducing  the  volume,  accord- 

289 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ing  to  our  plan,  they  could  not  loan  the  money  ex- 
cept to  the  Government,  which  would  have  complete 
control  over  interest  rates ;  and  they  could  not  borrow 
money  except  from  the  Government,  which  alone 
would  have  the  right  to  loan  it,  and  if  they  reinvested 
their  hoardings,  immediately  they  did  so,  it  would 
enter  the  circulation  and  tend  to  restore  its  equilibri- 
um. The  compensative  regulations  we  have  outlined 
would  automatically  regulate  the  volume,  and  main- 
tain it  at  a  fixed  standard  as  nearly  as  human  inven- 
tion could  devise. 

The  principles  of  any  science  are  universal  and 
absolute;  therefore,  it  might  be  argued  that  there 
could  be  only  one  kind  of  scientific  money;  which  is 
true  as  to  the  principles  on  which  it  is  based,  but  one 
of  the  first  principles  is  that  the  making  of  money  is 
strictly  a  Government  prerogative.  Each  Government 
employs  the  same  principles  to  make  a  scientific  Gov- 
ernment money  for  its  own  people ;  and  being  a  Gov- 
ernment prerogative,  it  cannot  make  money  for  the 
people  of  any  other  Government  except  its  own;  but 
in  this  commercial  age,  the  peoples  of  different  coun- 
tries trade  with  each  other,  for  which  a  universal  me- 
dium of  exchange  must  be  employed.  No  separate 
Government  could  independently  make  such  a  money. 
A  medium  conventionally  adopted  by  all  of  them 
would  serve  the  purpose;  but  the  need  of  authority 
instead  of  convention  is  apparent;  scientific  money, 
therefore,  contemplates  a  World  Power  formed  by 
the  federation  of  Governments  under  an  international 
constitution  that  would  have  supreme  authority  over 
international  money  and  affairs.  Then,  just  as  each 
separate  Government  makes  a  scientific  Government 
money  for  its  own  people,  to  be  used  at  home,  the 
International  Federal  Government  would,  on  the  same 
principles,  make  a  universal  money  for  the  people  of 

290 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  world  to  be  used  in  international  trade  and  travel. 

A  scientific  Government  money  is  a  money  made 
on  scientific  principles  by  each  separate  Government 
for  Its  own  people,  to  be  controlled  by  the  people 
through  their  constituted  authorities,  to  use  in  home 
exchanges,  and  for  the  payment  of  all  dues,  public 
and  private,  within  the  Government. 

While  each  Government  would  make  its  own  money 
on  the  same  principles,  and  while  it  would  all  be 
scientific  money,  still,  as  it  could  not  be  used  outside 
of  the  Government  that  made  it,  there  would,  in  that 
sense,  be  as  many  kinds  of  money  as  there  were  Gov- 
ernments. The  first  principle  of  scientific  money,  that 
of  the  Government  prerogative  to  make  it,  requires 
this.  Whoever  makes  and  controls  the  money,  rules 
the  Government.  If  the  Government  is  a  democracy, 
makes  its  own  money  and  controls  it,  then  are  its 
people  indeed  free.  As  long  as  private  individuals, 
or  a  foreign  Power  controls  money,  the  people  are 
slaves.  A  Government  money,  made  and  controlled 
by  each  separate  Government,  is  essential  to  their 
autonomy  and  the  freedom  of  their  people. 

An  International  Government,  formed  by  a  federa- 
tion of  the  Powers,  would  not  only  have  the  preroga- 
tive, it  would  be  its  duty  to  issue  an  International 
money  for  use  between  the  Governments,  and  between 
their  peoples  in  international  trade  and  travel;  and 
such  money  would  neither  affect,  nor  be  affected  by 
the  Government  moneys,  because  it  would  be  the  law 
in  each  that  whatever  amount  of  International  money 
found  its  way  into  the  general,  or  local  circulation, 
should  pass  current  and  equal  with  the  Government 
money,  but  as  fast  as  it  reached  the  branch  banks, 
to  be  sent  to  the  Central  Bank  for  deposit,  not  to  be 
again  used  except  for  international  trade  or  travel. 

The  separate  Governments  would  necessarily  have 

291 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

varying  per  capita  circulations  of  Government  money ; 
but  even  that,  according  to  our  plan,  would  not  in  the 
least  interfere  with  International  money;  neither 
would  the  International  money  disturb  the  fixed  vol- 
umes or  the  representative  worth  of  the  Government 
moneys. 

Until  an  International  Federal  Government  is  es- 
tablished with  the  authority  to  issue  a  scientific  Inter- 
national money,  the  use,  in  its  place,  of  some  univer- 
sally accepted  medium,  as  gold,  is  imperatively  neces- 
sary before,  and  until  a  scientific  International  money 
can  be  established ;  because  such  money,  made  by  one 
Government  independently  without  the  concurrence 
of  the  other  Powers,  and  without  regard  to  the  laws 
and  conventions  of  other  nations,  would  not  be  ac- 
cepted in  international  trade. 

Of  course,  with  the  federation  of  the  Governments 
of  the  world,  forming  an  International  Government, 
the  money  which  it  would  issue  might  be  made  a  uni- 
versal scientific  money  of  sufficient  numerical  volume 
to  equitably  represent  the  universal  aggregate  worth 
of  all  commodities  and  services,  and  supplied  to  each 
separate  Government  according  to  its  per  capita  need, 
and  it  would  be  a  vast  improvement  over  the  present 
robber  system.;  but  we  favor  both  a  Government 
money  and  an  International  money. 

There  can  be,  according  to  our  theory,  but  one  Cen- 
tral Bank  of  Issue  in  each  Government  for  the  mak- 
ing of  scientific  Government  money,  and  there  can  be 
but  one  International  Bank  of  Issue  in  the  world  for 
the  making  of  International  money. 

If  the  attempt  were  made  to  adopt  the  International 
money  as  the  one  money  for  all,  the  International 
Bank  of  Issue  could  alone  make  it,  and  the  Interna- 
tional Government  would  control  it,  which  would  in- 
fringe upon  the  autonomy  of  the  separate  Govern- 

292 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ments,  if  indeed,  it  did  not  destroy  their  national  in- 
dependence; besides,  with  only  one  kind  of  money, 
the  wealthy  international  traders  would  have  too  large 
control  over  it,  and  by  making  excuses  or  occasions 
for  shipping  it  abroad,  could  reduce  its  volume. 

The  precision  and  equity  of  the  money  measure 
depends  upon  the  unvariableness  of  its  numerical  vol- 
ume; therefore,  the  people's  money  should  be  re- 
moved as  far  as  possible  from  speculative  influences 
or  private  control,  and  its  volume  definitely  main- 
tained. This  can  only  be  accomplished  by  making 
the  two  kinds  of  scientific  money:  a  Government 
money,  made  "by  the  people  and  for  the  people," 
controlled  by  the  people,  to  use  at  home,  and  an  In- 
ternational money,  made  and  controlled  by  the  In- 
ternational Government  for  international  trade  and 
travel.  Then  the  banking  institution  of  each  Govern- 
ment for  its  own  money  would  be  independent,  and 
the  two  kinds  of  money,  being  separately  employed, 
would  not  conflict,  and  neither  would  interfere  with 
the  representative  worth  or  purchasing  power  of  the 
other. 

Some  Governments  would  require  a  larger  per 
capita  volume  of  money  than  others,  and  with  only 
an  International  money,  this  need  could  not  be  fully 
met. 

Any  separate  Government  can  adopt  an  Interna- 
tional money,  but  it  cannot,  independently,  establish 
one;  for  that  can  only  be  done  by  an  International 
Power,  or  an  international  agreement. 

If  an  International  money  should  be  adopted  for  all 
to  the  exclusion  of  Government  money,  and  still  the 
separate  Governments  be  authorized  to  make  it,  some 
would  issue  more,  others  less,  and  having  no  way  to 
enforce  its  acceptance  by  other  countries,  the  result 
would   be   in  some  instances   appreciation   in  repre- 

293 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

sentative  worth  or  purchasing  power,  in  others,  de- 
preciation, in  all  discrimination,  loss,  and  confusion, 
and  a  worse  condition,  if  possible,  than  we  have  now. 
Such  a  money  would  in  no  perfect  sense  be  a  scien- 
tific money  of  definite  numerical  volume,  definitely 
maintained,  and  issued  with  authority. 

The  making  of  money,  as  we  have  proved  by  his- 
tory and  reason,  is  strictly  a  Government  prerogative. 
Under  our  theory  of  two  kinds  of  money,  but  both 
issued  on  precisely  the  same  principles,  each  Govern- 
ment could  make  its  own  Government  money  of  suf- 
ficient numerical  volume  to  supply  the  needs  of  its 
own  people,  keep  it  at  home,  prevent  its  manipulation 
by  private  hands,  definitely  maintain  its  volume  so 
there  could  be  no  hurtful  variableness  in  its  repre- 
sentative worth  and  purchasing  power,  which  is  the 
main  essential  feature  of  scientific  money.  The  In- 
ternational money,  issued  by  the  International  Fed- 
eral Government,  could  likewise  be  kept  at  a  fixed 
volume  as  determined  by  the  needs  of  international 
commerce  and  travel.  The  people,  through  their 
governmental  constituted  authorities,  would  then  con- 
trol money,  and  the  honest  producer  could  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  his  toil;  for  whoever  controls  money,  rules 
all. 

We  have  elsewhere  contended  that  a  scientific 
money  would  prevent  panics,  because  it  would  take 
money  out  of  the  control  of  private  hands,  and  would 
give  the  people  a  genuine  money  instead  of  a  credit 
currency  and  note  obligations  falsely  called  money. 
We  charged  panics  to  the  liquidation  of  this  false 
credit  currency;  and  in  doing  so,  we  knew  at  how 
much  variance  we  are  with  the  commonly  accepted 
opinions  on  this  subject. 

There  have  been  seven  notable  monetary  depres- 
sions in  the   United   States,   including  the   so-called 

294 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

panic  of  1907-8,  etc.  Scarcity  of  money  has  com- 
monly been  the  cause  ascribed  by  popular  opinion. 
But  Peletia  Webster,  an  early  pamphleteer,  declared 
that  it  was  not  scarcity  of  money  which  lay  at  the 
bottom  of  such  troubles,  but  scarcity  of  confidence  in 
securities.  For  this  reason,  it  has  been  asserted  by 
some  statesmen  and  thinkers,  lands  sold  at  half  their 
values  during  the  first  financial  depression,  1784  until 
1790. 

This  class  of  reasoners  ascribe  such  troubles  in 
large  measure  to  the  speculative  impulses  generated 
by  great  prosperity,  as  in  the  period  between  our  first 
and  second  depressions,  say  1791  to  1809.  There  was 
great  speculation  in  Western  lands.  The  discovery 
of  anthracite  coal  and  the  uses  that  could  be  made  of 
it,  brought  on  much  speculation  in  stocks.  Textile 
manufacture  enhanced  the  value  of  lands  which  pro- 
duced textile  material.  Factory  towns  were  thus 
built  up,  greatly  advancing  city  and  town  lands.  Ca- 
nal companies,  bridge  companies,  turnpike  companies, 
all  kinds  and  sorts  of  companies  were  chartered,  "all 
with  grants  of  privileges  for  levying  tribute."  An 
era  of  "wild  investment"  set  in,  reminding  economists 
of  the  great  tulip  craze  in  Holland,  during  the  seven- 
teenth century,  when  bulbs  sold  at  thousands  of  dol- 
lars each,  and  were  actually  made  the  basis  of  stock 
issuance  and  share  selling. 

In  1819  the  culmination  came,  and  down  went  land 
values,  half  or  more,  and  the  result  was  attributed  to 
financial  derangement. 

After  this  depression  passed,  building  the  Erie 
canal  and  a  great  bound  in  railroad  construction, 
brought  on  the  speculative  mania  again,  and  "bound- 
ing prosperity"  for  a  time  suffered  a  tail-on  collision 
and  general    smash-up   in    1837.     Speculative    mania 

295 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

again  set  in,  with  returning  prosperity,  and  the  specu- 
lators again  found  their  Waterloo  in  1857. 

The  era  of  great  prosperity  brought  on  during  the 
Civil  War  by  a  plentitude  of  United  States  currency, 
has  already  been  pretty  fully  discussed,  but  little  men- 
tion was  made  of  the  speculation  which  it  caused. 
Lands  were  mortgaged  and  remortgaged,  the  third, 
and  even  the  fourth  time  in  some  instances,  often  for 
purely  speculative  purposes.  Practically  everybody 
was  into  some  kind  of  speculative  scheme,  trying  to 
"get  rich  without  working."  That  endec  with  the 
panic  of  1873. 

Therefore  some  economists  and  statesmen  attribute 
panics  to  speculation. 

Without  any  derogation  of  their  acumen,  and  with- 
out discrediting  the  importance  of  the  connection 
which  speculation  has  with  panics,  it  is  still  plain  to 
us  that  liquidation  is  the  fundamental  cause. 

Our  false  system  of  money  encourages  and  fosters 
speculation,  a  scientific  money  would  not.  Specula- 
tion, that  is,  the  largest  part  of  it,  is  in  what  should 
be  public  utilities.  Under  our  plan,  pubHc  utilities 
would  all  belong  to  the  Government,  and  there  would 
be  no  chance  to  speculate  in  their  stocks  and  bonds 
for  there  would  be  none.  Stocks  and  bonds,  paper 
note  currency  for  specie  redemption,  and  the  securi- 
ties of  various  kinds,  would  not  exist  with  a  scientific 
system  of  money.  There  would,  of  course,  still  be 
individual  notes  and  checks  entering  circulation  to  a 
limited  extent,  but  such  would  be  entirely  an  individual 
matter,  and  at  individual  instead  of  public  risk.  There 
will  always  be,  we  suppose,  some  reckless,  irresponsi- 
ble speculators,  and  the  majority  of  them  will  lose 
all  they  have,  just  as  they  ought  to  do;  but  under  a 
scientific  system  of  money,  they  alone  would  suffer ; 
while  under  the  present  system,  with  85  per  cent,  of 

296 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

the  money  a  credit  currency  of  some  sort,  when 
liquidation*  begins,  this  credit  currency  is  taken  up, 
and  the  common  opinion  that  scarcity  of  money 
brought  on  the  panic,  is  correct;  hut  it  was  liquidation 
that  canised  that  scarcity.  The  speculator  may,  and 
doubtless  does,  help  to  pull  down  the  house  that 
smashes  the  people  along  with  himcelf;  but  with  a 
scientific  money  system  he  could  hurt  no  one  but  him- 
self. There  would  he  no  credit  currency  that  coidd 
be  taken  out  of  circulation  hy  private  or  corporate  de- 
mand, the  volume  of  money  could  not  he  reduced,  and 
the  speculator  would  he  powerless  to  affect  the  gen- 
eral equilibrium  of  prices. 

It  is  true,  as  we  have  elsewhere  noted,  that  panics 
have  all  been  preceded  by  periods  of  unusual  pros- 
perity; it  is  also  true  that  at  such  times  there  has 
been  much  speculation;  but  both  are  only  signs  that 
the  time  of  liquidation  is  at  hand. 

The  straw  of  wheat  turns  yellow  at  the  time  of 
ripening;  so  prosperity  and  speculation  at  their  full 
is  only  a  sign  to  the  money-lender  that  it  is  time  for 
him  to  reap  his  harvest.  Did  the  promise,  "Seed- 
time and  harvest  shall  continue,"  apply  to  the  money- 
lender? We  think  not.  When  the  Government  be- 
comes the  only  lender  of  money,  he  will  go  out  of 
business  forever. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

RIGHT   AND  WRONG — AN   ETHICAL  AND  PHILOSOPHICAL 

VIEW   OF   SOCIAL   RELATIONS   AND   ECONOMIC 

QUESTIONS 

The  sowing  of  the  dragon's  teeth  has  sharply  de- 
fined the  line  between  individual  liberty  and  the  su- 

297 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

perior  rights  of  society.  It  has  shown  that  individual- 
ism, when  it  encroaches  upon  society  rights,  becomes 
destructive  of  personal  rights. 

The  growth  of  the  giants  sprung  from  the  dragon's 
teeth  is,  ethically  speaking,  the  development  of  indi- 
vidualism. 

The  powers  of  government,  which  should  be  con- 
trolled by  the  people,  and  exercised  only  for  the  pro- 
tection and  conservation  of  social  rights,  having  been 
surrendered  to  private  hands,  the  rights  of  society 
have  been  less  and  less  regarded.  Special  interests 
have  taken  corporate  form,  and  stand  like  colossal 
giants,  while  the  masses  toil  and  sweat  to  support 
them. 

Competition  and  monopoly  are  alike  the  products 
of  individualism. 

Monopoly  shifts  the  burden  of  competition  from  a 
few  and  places  it  on  the  bent  and  weakened  shoul- 
ders of  overburdened  labor.  Competition,  uninflu- 
enced by  monopoly,  gives  a  wider  distribution  of 
wealth,  but  intensifies  the  individual  struggle. 

The  baneful  effect  of  competition,  that  hitherto 
insurmountable  obstacle  to  human  progress,  is  upon 
every  one  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  and  life,  it- 
self, instead  of  being  a  joy  and  happiness  is  made  a 
joyless  struggle  for  existence.  Every  social  and  busi- 
ness relation,  and  every  individual  act,  is  affected  by 
competition;  hence  the  ethical  aspect  of  this  subject. 
We  know  that  these  things  are  wrong.  Let  us  en- 
deavor to  lay  aside  the  shell-bound  prejudices  of  con- 
servatism and  false  teaching,  and  see  if  we  can  dis- 
cover what  would  make  them  right. 

The  relative  relations  of  things  to  some  fixed  or 
absolute  principle  constitutes  the  sum  of  human  knowl- 
edge. A  thing  exists  in  itself  independently,  but  we 
can  have  no  complete  understanding  of  it  apart  from 

298 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

its  correlative  relations.  If  a  single  aspect  of  a 
subject  is  considered  independently,  both  its  true 
nature,  and  its  relations  to  other  things  may  be  en- 
tirely misapprehended. 

Right  is  an  absolute  principle.  That  relative 
wrongs  exist  is  only  proof  that  thevf.  is  an  absolute 
Right.  Everywhere,  and  in  everything,  the  relative 
is  irrefragable  evidence  of  the  nonrelative;  the  finite, 
of  the  infinite ;  and  even  negation  itself  is  the  strong- 
est substantiation  of  existence. 

Geometrical  knowledge  discovered  the  fact  that  a 
straight  line  is  the  shortest  distance  between  two 
given  points;  and  further,  that  there  can  be  only  one 
straight  line  between  two  given  points.  Now  Right 
is  a  straight  line,  and  there  cannot  exist  two  rights, 
nor  any  multiplicity  of  rights  as  affecting  the  same 
questions  and  things.  Any  deviation  from  the  straight 
line  of  Right  is  a  Wrong;  and  the  greater  the  devia- 
tion the  greater  the  Wrong. 

Straight  lines  of  the  same  length,  crossing  the  same 
central  point,  form  a  circle;  so  the  straight  lines  of 
Right,  crossing  the  center  of  Eternal  Truth,  form  an 
infinite  circle  that  compasses  the  duties  of  all  rational 
and  accountable  beings,  both  in  time  and  in  eternity. 

Human  conduct  is  the  sum  of  the  voluntary  actions 
of  men.  Some  actions,  though  voluntary,  have  in 
view  no  definite  purpose ;  and  for  that  reason  are  not 
ethically  considered;  only  such  actions  as  have  in 
view  a  definite  purpose  which  may  be  denominated 
good  or  bad,  right  or  wrong,  belong  within  the  do- 
main of  ethics.  But  since  it  often  happens  that  the 
most  trivial  and  lightly  considered  act  may  start  an 
endless  chain  of  grave  consequences,  it  behooves  men 
to  give  due  thought  to  all  their  actions.  An  act 
which  is  indififerent  or  purposeless  in  itself,  when  it  is 
seen  to  influence  other  acts  of  definite   importance. 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

at  once  looses  its  indifferent  character,  and  has  to  be 
ethically  considered.  An  act  in  itself  faultless,  and 
directed  to  a  proximately  good  end,  becomes  a  bad 
act  if,  in  connection  with  other  acts  and  their  influ- 
ence, it  be  demonstrated  that  ultimately  it  will  cause 
more  of  evil  than  good.  Where  acts  are  performed 
under  compulsion,  the  actor  is  not  ethically  responsi- 
ble ;  but  the  agent  of  the  compulsion  is  the  responsible 
party.  The  more  involved  an  act,  that  is  the  more 
extensive  its  connection  with  other  acts  of  proximate 
or  remote  consequence,  the  greater  its  ethical  im- 
portance. 

The  primary  rules  of  Right  are  few  and  simple; 
but  the  complex  adjustments  of  multiform  acts  to 
these  rules  are  many  and  intricate ;  and  those  acts 
which  employ  varied  proximate  means  to  attain  some 
remote  ultimate  purpose  are  the  most  complex  in  their 
ethical  adjustments ;  for  usually,  the  rights  of  others 
are  more  or  less  connected  therewith,  either  in  con- 
flict or  in  agreement. 

Volumes  have  been  written  on  what  men  should 
do  or  not  do;  but  after  all,  the  chief  ends  of  human 
conduct  are  the  prolongation  of  life,  the  quantity  of 
life  (those  things  which  conduce  to  comfort  and  hap- 
piness), and  race  maintenance  (the  preservation  of 
offspring). 

Man,  as  to  his  physical  being,  is  subject  to  natural 
law.  The  prolongation  of  human  life  depends  upon 
compliance  with  physical  laws. 

Experience  has  demonstrated  that  men  can  improve 
the  species  of  the  lower  animals  by  careful  selection 
in  breeding,  by  feeding  the  proper  quality  and  quant- 
ity of  food,  by  care  and  attention;  and  furthermore, 
while  they  cannot  create  nezv  species,  they  can  select 
certain  types  in  species,  and  by  continued  selection 
and  attention  make  them  comparatively  permanent. 

300 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Antagonistic  relations  exist  between  all  the  different 
orders  of  the  animal  kingdom.  One  specie  preys  upon 
another,  and  often  the  stronger  members  of  the  same 
specie  prey  upon  the  weaker;  or  else,  through  the 
right  of  might,  they  appropriate  to  themselves  the 
larger  benefits,  and  the  weaker  succamb  to  innutri- 
tion and  physical  want.  Man  is  no  complete  excep- 
tion to  the  predaceous  rules  governing  animals.  With 
men,  the  antagonistic  conditions  attending  the  com- 
mon struggle  for  existence  have  been  lessened  by  re- 
straining the  predatory  aggressions  of  the  strong  in 
civilized  society;  but  we  are  still  very  far  from  the 
ideally  perfect.  In  our  competitive  system,  individual 
success,  in  many  things,  is  seemingly  unavoidably 
predicated  on  a  corresponding  injury  to  others;  yet  it 
is  evident  to  the  just  thinking  mind  that  the  evolu- 
tion of  human  conduct  will  not  be  complete  until  not 
only  one  man's  success,  one  man's  happiness,  will  not 
conflict  with  the  success  or  happiness  of  another,  but 
will  augment  the  other's  success  and  happiness  in  a 
commensurate  degree  with  his  own.  The  lives  of  all 
cannot  be  complete  under  any  other  condition.  To 
secure  the  elimination  of  our  destructive  competitive 
system  under  which  an  ideally  perfect  humanity  is  im- 
possible, individual  interests  must  be  subordinated  to 
the  welfare  of  society ;  and  instead  of  individual  com- 
petition, there  must  be  cooperative  effort  for  the 
Common  Good.  Every  individual  right,  even  propri- 
etary rights  in  property,  must  be  subordinated  to  the 
public  welfare.  Each  member  of  society,  should  to 
the  extent  of  his  abilities,  contribute  mutual  assistance 
to  secure  the  Common  Good.  The  evils  of  the  mili- 
tary system  of  our  predatory,  savage  ancestry,  are 
still  manifest  in  the  aggressions  allowed,  or  seemingly 
made  necessary,  in  our  competitive  system.  We  say 
seemingly  made  necessary  advisedly;  for  there  is  not 

301 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

anything"  wrong  but  wh?t  may  be  eliminated  by  the 
adoption  in  its  place  of  that  which  is  right. 

We  know  that  the  predaceous  aggressions  of  the 
strong  upon  the  weak,  of  the  rich  upon  the  poor,  is 
wrong;  and  no  amount  of  sophistical  argument  can 
make  it  right;  but  if  for  aggression  there  is  substi- 
tuted mutual  helpfulness,  and  individual  interests  are 
subordinated  to  the  public  welfare,  greed  and  mo- 
nopoly would  no  longer  have  place  in  society. 

In  a  general  sense,  anything  is  good  which  per- 
fectly fulfills  the  immediate  purposes  of  its  creation, 
and  anything  is  bad  which  fails  to  do  so ;  but  ethically 
considered,  in  a  relative  sense,  "conduct  is  only  good 
when  the  ethical  end  to  be  accomplished  is  good." 
In  this  sense,  it  is  sometimes  right  to  submit  to  a 
present  evil  to  obtain  an  ultimate  good ;  to  make  pres- 
ent sacrifices  to  secure  some  greater  future  benefit ;  to 
forego  a  present  individual  gain  for  a  future  benefit 
to  the  public. 

Self-interest  is  the  basis  of  human  conduct  and 
endeavor.  Even  when  acts  are  performed  for  the 
public  good,  the  purpose  is  to  increase  the  general 
sum  of  happiness  in  which  each  individual  would 
share,  and,  would  thereby  be  able  to  add  to  his  own 
happiness  in  a  larger  degree  than  he  could  do  in  any 
other  way.  Yet  self-interest  is  prone  to  be  near- 
sighted, and  most  easily  discovers  proximate  indi- 
vidual benefits;  for  which  reason,  self-regarding  acts 
require  moral  restraint;  public-regarding  acts,  moral 
enforcement.  The  maintenance  of  individual  life,  of 
posterity,  and  of  the  concomitants  of  worldly  means 
sufficient  to  place  above  want ;  to  feed,  clothe,  and 
educate  children  that  they  may  enter  upon  a  right- 
fully advantageous  position  in  society,  are  acts  of 
self-interest,  which  are  not  only  necessary,  but  are  to 
be  commended.    The  honest  acquisition  and  accumu- 

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THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

lation  of  property  within  reasonable  limits  to  insure 
comfort  and  enjoyment  and  a  protection  against  the 
forced  inactivities  of  age,  encourages  industry,  aids 
morality,  and  gives  the  individual  larger  abilities  to 
contribute  to  the  Common  Good;  but  the  disposition 
of  those  who  are  solely  actuated  in  their  conduct  by 
immediate  self-interest  to  disregard  the  interests  of 
society,  requires  the  peremptory  restraint  and  inhibi- 
tion of  law. 

The  majority  of  laws,  both  common  and  statutory, 
are  interdicts  against  certain  individual  acts  which 
experience  has  proven  to  be  injurious  to  society.  The 
first  commandment  in  the  Hebrew  Decalogue  contains 
a  "Thou  shalt" ;  but  the  other  nine  a  "Thou  shalt  not." 
In  the  jurisprudence  of  civilized  nations  the  main  body 
of  laws  is  composed  of  interdicts.  Is  it  not  possible 
that  there  is  some  weakness  in  this?  Are  there  not 
as  many  things  which  men  should  do  as  there  are 
things  which  they  should  not  do?  And  are  men  any 
more  disposed  to  do  the  right  things  than  they  are  to 
do  the  wrong  things?  Edicts  are  as  necessary  as  in- 
terdicts. A  right  rule  of  action  is  essential  before  a 
proper,  adequate  plenary  interdict  can  be  made  against 
its  violation.  Not  only  is  a  rule  of  action  necessary, 
it  must  be  understood ;  and  that  it  may  be  fully  com- 
prehended, it  is  quite  as  needful  to  exemplify  it  by 
example  as  to  teach  it  by  word  of  mouth.  Ethical 
precepts,  to  have  that  force  which  compels  accept- 
ance, must  be  exemplified  by  conduct;  and  laws,  to 
have  their  rightful  influence,  to  command  universal 
respect  and  obedience,  must  be  obeyed  by  the  stronger 
as  well  as  the  weaker  members  of  society.  Those  in 
authority  must  do  from  choice  what  they  Vv'ould  have 
those  under  them  to  do  either  from  compulsion  or 
persuasion.  When  the  people  see  those  who  are  in 
positions  of  authority  and  power  appropriate  to  them- 

303 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

selves  the  lion's  share  of  the  public  benefits,  and  ag- 
gress upon  the  civil  rights  of  individuals,  it  provokes 
in  them  a  disrespect  and  a  disregard  for  law.  The 
ethical  standards  of  society  can  only  be  elevated  by 
the  leading  influential  members  exemplifying  in  the 
conduct  of  their  own  lives  the  beauty,  and  justice, 
and  benefit  of  right  ideals  and  correct  living.  Mag- 
nanimity, generosity,  honesty  and  truthfulness  in  the 
individual,  strengthen  confidence  as  between  man  and 
man,  and  insure  the  prosperity  of  the  social  state; 
but  selfishness,  predaceous  aggressions  upon  the  rights 
of  others,  dishonesty,  untruthfulness,  destroy  the  trust 
which  should  exist  between  man  and  man,  and  cause 
disaster  to  the  social  organization. 

In  the  slow  evolution  of  ethics,  for  centuries,  the 
humble,  servile  obedience  of  the  many  to  a  few  self- 
appointed  masters,  constituted  their  chief  virtues; 
and  until  comparatively  modern  times,  such  was 
thought  to  be  the  ideal  state  for  society ;  but  as  a  free 
people,  we  have  substituted  obedience  to  law  instead 
of  obedience  to  human  masters.  The  authority  of  law 
is  derivative,  and  to  be  just  and  stable  must  be  the 
expression  of  the  popular  will.  Men  yield  submis- 
sion to  law  that  they  may  be  protected  in  the  exercise 
of  certain  individual  prerogatives,  in  life,  in  person, 
in  property,  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  Obedience 
to  law  insures  a  larger  degree  of  civil  liberty.  As 
we  have  before  stated,  law  is  chiefly  composed  of 
peremptory  interdicts  for  the  repression  or  restraint 
of  certain  individual  acts  which  experience  has  found 
to  be  detrimental  to  the  orderliness,  happiness,  and  wel- 
fare of  society.  In  a  representative  government  like 
ours,  laws  are  initiated  by  the  people,  and  made  into 
formal  acts  by  men  to  whom  the  people  have  given 
legislative  authority.  One  of  the  weaknesses  in  our 
system  is  that  the  acts  of  legislation  as  passed  by 

304 


\ 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

State  legislatures  and  the  National  Congress  are  not 
referred  back  to  the  people  for  their  approval  before 
they  become  binding  as  law.  The  execution  of  law 
must  be  by  a  constituted  authority  composed  of  a  few 
men.  As  long  as  that  constituted  executive  authority 
remains  representative,  and  true  to  the  interests  of 
the  people,  the  public  welfare  is  conserved;  but  if  it 
arrogates  to  itself  more  than  its  delegated  authority; 
if  it  executes  the  law  in  the  favor  of  the  few  as  against 
the  many ;  if  it  encourages  the  aggression  of  one  class 
of  citizens  upon  another  class,  by  which  they  secure 
more  than  their  equitable  share  of  the  products  of 
productive  energies,  we  are  then  no  longer  under 
the  protection  of  law,  but  under  selfish  human  masters 
wearing  the  masks  of  law. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

EVOLUTION  OF  ETHICAL  STANDARDS 

The  marvelous  material  prosperity  of  the  United 
States  in  the  past  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
laborer  has  been  given  a  just  wage,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity presented  to  him  to  better  his  condition ;  thus 
stimulated  to  hopeful  endeavor,  the  productive  ener- 
gies of  the  nation,  wonderful  in  compass  and  degree, 
have  been  a  marvel  to  the  older  nations,  and  the  chief 
factor  in  building  our  national  greatness ;  but  take 
away  that  stimulus  to  individual  endeavor  by  robbing 
the  laborer  of  the  fruits  of  his  toil,  by  taking  away 
from  him  the  opportunity  to  better  his  condition, 
and  productive  energies  will  suffer  paralysis  and 
decay. 

If  the  door  of  opportunity  should  be  closed  to  the 
poor ;  if  the  comforts  of  life  should  be  denied  to  them ; 
if  hunger  should  be  made  the  only  incentive  to  toil, 

305 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

production  would  soon  be  lowered  to  the  immediate 
needs  of  consumption.  The  future  material  prosperity 
of  the  nation  depends  upon  maintaining  unimpaired 
its  productive  energies,  and  that  can  only  be  done  by 
giving  to  those  who  produce  a  just  share  in  the  bene- 
fits of  their  productions — to  the  toiler  the  fruits  of 
his  toil.  To  secure  this  necessary  end,  the  predaceous 
vultures  of  society  who  fatten  upon  the  toil  of  others 
must  be  restrained  by  law;  and  they  can  never  be 
effectually  restrained  till  their  stolen  millions  are  re- 
turned to  the  State;  for  it  is  their  money  which  gives 
them  their  great  power  for  evil,  and  enables  them  to 
continue  their  aggressions.  A  tiger  is  not  harmless 
as  long  as  it  has  teeth  and  claws.  Denunciation  has 
little  effect  on  predatory  wealth,  and  they  care  not 
much  for  law  as  long  as  they  can  wield  the  power 
that  money  gives  to  them. 

A  vulture  swoops  down  into  the  valley  for  its 
prey,  and  then  flies  to  a  beetling  cliff  to  devour  it  un- 
disturbed. An  arrogant  judiciary  has  arrogated  to 
itself  the  right  to  pass  upon  the  constitutionality  of 
all  law,  regardless  of  the  public  welfare  upon  which 
the  Constitution  itself  was  supposed  to  be  based,  has 
reared  a  mountain  wall  which  it  calls  "Vested 
rights/'  and  when  the  minions  of  the  law  get  after 
the  predaceous  vultures  of  society,  they  fly  with  their 
plunder  behind  that  beetling  cliff  which  the  judiciary 
has  erected,  and  bid  defiance  to  an  outraged  people. 

Society  is  composed  of  individual  units.  What- 
ever damages  individual  members,  injuriously  affects 
society  at  large.  If  the  standard  of  living  of  the  in- 
dividual is  lowered,  he  and  his  family  suffer  directly 
by  the  deprivation  of  the  necessary  means  for  comfort 
and  subsistence,  and  society  is  injured  indirectly  by 
the  consequent  lowering  of  ethical  standards  and  the 
loss  to  production. 

306 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Allow  me,  for  just  a  little  while,  to  drop  into  per- 
sonal narrative  for  the  purpose  of  illustration. 

Several  years  ago,  in  the  town  of  S ,  of  which 

I  was  then  a  citizen,  the  public-schjol  money  would 
support  the  school  only  about  four  months  in  the 
year.  The  question  was  raised  (and  I  helped  to  raise 
it)  of  supplementing  the  public-school  allowance  from 
the  State  with  money  raised  by  a  municipal  tax,  so  as 
to  continue  the  school  ten  months  in  the  year.  I  had 
a  family  of  children  just  coming  into  school  age,  and 
was  enthusiastically  in  favor  of  providing  for  the 
supplemental  school  fund  by  a  municipal  tax.  As  it 
was  to  be  left  to  a  vote  of  the  citizens,  I  talked  to 
different  ones  in  its  advocacy.  Among  the  citizens 
whom  I  approached  was  a  banker,  the  wealthiest  man 
in  the  town.  He  very  frankly  told  me  that  he  was 
opposed  to  it;  and  the  reason  he  bluntly  gave  was 
"that  he  was  opposed  to  giving  his  money  to  educate 
other  people's  children.*'  I  requested  the  privilege  to 
ask  him  some  questions,  which  he  freely  accorded  me. 

I  asked :    "Mr.  J ,  how  long  have  you  lived  in  this 

town  ?"  He  replied :  "Fifteen  years."  I  then  asked : 
"Do  you  like  to  live  here  ?"  To  which  he  replied  with 
a  sententious  "yes."  Then  I  asked :  "Why  do  you  like 
to  live  here?  Please  state  the  principal  of  your  rea- 
sons." To  which  he  replied  at  some  length,  stating: 
"It  is  a  good  town  to  live  in.  Some  of  the  elements 
that  make  it  such  are  that  it  has  a  good,  moral,  cul- 
tured citizenship,  who  make  good  neighbors ;  the  most 
of  them  own  their  homes,  and  take  an  interest  in 
business  matters  that  go  to  build  up  a  town ;  they  are 
intelligent,  law-abiding,  industrious,  and  prosperous ; 
the  clean,  moral  atmosphere  of  the  town  makes  it  a 
desirable  place  to  raise  my  children;  and  last,  but  not 
least  with  me,  it  is  a  good  place  to  make  money." 
"Now,  Mr.  J ,"  I  asked,   "is   not  the  future  of 

307 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

your  children  your  chief  interest  and  concern  in  Hfe  ?" 
He  replied:  **I  mean  to  give  to  each  and  all  of  my 
children  a  good  start  in  life,   a  better  start  than  I 

had."    "Mr.  J ,  you  are  perfectly  right  in  that,"  I 

replied,  but   I   added,   "Mr.   J ,   don't   you   think 

that  to  leave  them  a  good  tow^n  to  live  in,  as  good,  or 
better  tov^n  than  this  is  now  from  the  points  of  in- 
telligence, good  citizenship,  good  morals,  and  thrift, 
would  be  the  very  best  legacy  you  could  leave  them? 

Now,  Mr.  J ,"  I  further  added,  "if  your  ideas  on 

schools  should  be  carried  out,  you  know  that  the  ma- 
jority of  your  fellow  citizens  in  this  town  are  not  able 
financially  to  send  their  children  to  private  schools  and 
colleges  as  you  are — no  matter  how  much  they  might 
prefer  to  do  so — and  if  they  cannot  educate  their 
children  in  the  public  school,  they  will  have  to  grow 
up  in  ignorance;  and  ignorance  means  vice  and  poor 
citizenship.  If  your  children  are  to  live  amid  vice, 
squalor,  and  poverty,  will  all  the  money  and  education 
you  can  give  them  compensate  for  the  loss  ?"  He  re- 
plied, "Tom,  you  have  put  it  to  me  in  a  new  light. 
There  is  something  in  your  argument."  Now  for 
the  application  of  this  thought  in  a  more  extended 
sense.  If  a  few,  actuated  by  greed  and  avarice,  ac- 
cumulate to  themselves  all  the  wealth  of  the  country, 
thereby  depriving  the  people  of  the  means  of  educat- 
ing their  children,  of  owning  decent  homes,  of  living 
in  comfort;  entailing  disease  and  vice,  squalid  hovels, 
and  hopeless  poverty ;  in  their  insatiate  greed,  de- 
stroying the  natural  resources  of  the  country  under 
the  specious  plea  of  developing  them ;  forest,  and 
mine,  and  soil,  all  being  rapidly  destroyed ;  will  all 
their  millions  compensate  for  the  loss  of  the  forests 
from  the  hills,  the  once  fertile  valleys  which  they 
have  converted  into  barren  and  sterile  wastes,  for 
mineral  wealth  destroyed  which  was  intended  for  the 

308 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

comfort  of  man  and  for  a  contented  and  happy  peo- 
ple reduced  to  wretchedness  and  want?  What  then 
will  their  multi-millions  be  worth  ? 

It  appears  almost  inexplicable  why  the  ethical  evo- 
lution of  mankind  has  been  so  slow. 

Some  philosophers,  blinded  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
supposed  original  discovery,  have  attempted  to  make 
a  wider  application  of  certain  theories  than  was  found 
to  be  warranted  by  the  sound  reasoning  of  calmer 
minds.  One  philosopher,  who  esteemed  himself  the 
original  discoverer  of  the  theory  of  evolution,  spent 
years  in  trying  to  create  a  new  specie.  He  succeeded 
in  developing  a  fan-tailed  pigeon ;  but,  after  all,  it 
was  still  a  pigeon ;  and  he  died  without  being  able  to 
establish  any  proof  that  evolution  has  ever  operated 
as  a  creative  agency,  in  the  usual  sense  of  that  term. 
He  proved  that  the  present  form  of  the  earth  was 
evolved  by  igneous  and  aqueous  forces  which  have 
operated  in  the  formation  of  its  crust;  but  the  ele- 
ments of  which  it  is  composed  have  forever  been  the 
same,  and  he  erred  by  ascribing  too  great  a  duration 
to  this  geological  evolution,  by  overlooking  the  fact 
that  in  the  primordial  condition  of  the  earth,  the 
aqueous  and  igneous  forces  were  incomprehensibly 
more  active  than  at  later  periods;  that  perhaps  the 
changes  wrought  in  a  moment  then,  were  greater 
than  could  now  be  effected  by  the  same  agencies  in 
ten  millions  of  years.  He  proved  that  the  types  of 
species,  both  of  plants  and  animals,  could  be  accentu- 
ated and  improved;  he  proved,  beyond  peradventure, 
how  the  natural  law  of  selection,  through  adaptation 
to  physical  conditions,  preserved  certain  types  of  spe- 
cies, while  the  non-adaptability  of  other  types  caused 
them  to  perish ;  but  by  the  concentrated  eifort  of  his 
really  great  mind,  he  failed  to  discover  one  incon- 
testible  instance  where  evolution  has  created  an  ele- 

309 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ment,  or  a  specie ;  nor  is  there  in  all  the  philosophies 
which  have  ever  been  written,  any  proof,  positive  or 
negative,  that  evolution  ever  created  anything.  Evo- 
lution is  conditional,  and  not  elemental.  In  fact,  evo- 
lution is  nothing  in  itself  more  than  a  philosophical 
term  used  to  express  the  changes  in  forms  of  mat- 
ter, and  in  the  types  of  species  in  plants  and  animals. 
Force,  matter  (substance),  time,  and  space,  are  eter- 
nal verities,  which  can  neither  be  created  nor  de- 
stroyed. There  are  certain  elemental  verities  in  meta- 
physics as  well  as  in  nature.  A  straight  line  is  the 
shortest  distance  between  two  given  points;  and  the 
eternal  principle  of  Right  is  the  straight  line  of  rec- 
titude for  the  government  of  all  conduct.  Wrong 
consists  in  any  deviation  from  the  principle  of  Right, 
and  the  greater  the  deviation  the  greater  the  Wrong. 
Very  true,  where  the  principle  of  Right  is  imperfectly 
understood,  or  misapprehended,  the  rules  of  conduct 
will  be  correspondingly  confused;  and  what  may  be 
denominated  good  ethics  in  one  community,  would 
be  considered  bad  ethics  in  another;  but  that  does 
not  logically  affect  the  eternal,  unvarying  principle 
of  Right.  There  are  relative  Wrongs,  but  there  is 
only  one  Right,  fixed  and  absolute,  for  every  moral 
act. 

In  the  domain  of  ethics,  it  has  been  the  province 
of  evolution  to  discover  the  true  principle  of  Right 
for  the  regulation  of  conduct  in  the  commercial  and 
social  relations  of  men.  The  chief  factors  in  this 
evolution  have  been  self-interest,  society-interest,  the 
hope  of  reward,  the  fear  of  punishment,  and  the  ap- 
probation and  reprobation  of  society,  called  public 
opinion.  Self-interest  may  be  promoted,  for  the  pres- 
ent time,  by  wrong  acts.  Those  flagrantly  wrong 
acts,  denominated  crimes,  may,  for  the  moment,  the 
time,  advantage  'the  self-interest  of  the  culprit ;  but 

310 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

reason  clearly  proves  that  every  wrong  act  is  ulti- 
mately destructive  of  self-interest  in  the  logical  final- 
ity of  its  result.  To  sacrifice  the  interests  of  society 
for  present  selfish  gain  may  prosper  the  individual 
for  a  while;  but  in  the  end  he  will  suffer  loss;  for 
the  preservation  of  self-interest  depends  upon  the 
maintenance  of  the  interests  of  society.  Wrong  often 
presents  a  fruitage  of  rewards,  tempting  and  beauti- 
ful ;  but  they  contain  the  insidious  poison  of  death. 

Society,  in  its  eagerness  to  approve  deeds  of  indi- 
vidual achievement  may,  and  does,  often  unwittingly 
give  its  approbation  to  the  Wrong;  but  such  approval 
is  only  temporary,  and  is  inevitably  followed  by  last- 
ing denunciation.  The  doing  of  things  by  the  in- 
flexible standard  of  Right  redounds  to  self-interest 
ultimately — if  not  proximately,  to  the  interests  of 
society,  secures  a  righteous  reward,  and  the  lasting 
approbation  of  mankind. 

In  the  domestic  government  of  the  home,  we  are 
gratified  when  our  children  do  right  to  please  us; 
but  they  merit  our  complete  approbation  only  when 
they  do  right  as  a  matter  of  principle.  It  is  proper 
to  do  things  to  please  God ;  but  would  we  not  merit 
His  divine  pleasure  more  by  doing  them  simply  be- 
cause they  are  Right?  Clearly,  then,  when  righteous- 
ness becomes  the  governing  principle  of  every  action, 
the  work  of  the  factors  employed  in  the  evolution 
of  conduct  will  be  perfected,  and  Right,  the  true 
standard  of  ethics,  will  stand  forth  distinct  and  beau- 
tiful in  the  symmetrical  lines  of  discovered  rectitude 
in  every  relation  of  life.  It  is  equally  plain,  however, 
that  evolution  in  ethics  is  not  yet  completed,  and  that 
the  factors  which  we  have  mentioned  still  have  a 
necessary  work  to  perform.  Self-interest,  in  the  pres- 
ervation of  individual  life  and  offspring,  cannot  yet 
be  fully  divested  from  selfish  motives;  nor  has  so- 

311 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ciety-interest  that  dominancy  over  individual  inter- 
ests which  the  complete  living  of  all  requires.  Until 
the  criminal  instincts  of  men  are  obliterated,  the  fear 
of  the  gallows  must  restrain  the  hand  of  the  mur- 
derer, and  the  threatened  loss  of  liberty  by  imprison- 
ment, the  thief.  The  promise  of  reward  must  be 
held  out  to  many  for  encouragement,  the  threat  of 
punishment  to  many  others  that  their  evil  tendencies 
may  be  restrained. 

The  average  man  fears  nothing  so  much  as  the  rep- 
robation of  society.  Many  men  are  apparently  hon- 
est, not  so  much  from  principle,  as  because  they  real- 
ize that  to  be  dishonest  means  loss  of  credit  and 
standing  in  society.  The  manners,  customs,  fashions 
and  conventions  of  society  are  followed  for  the  same* 
reason;  because  to  disregard  them  means  loss  of  so- 
cial prestige.  The  social  conventions  of  society  vary 
in  different  communities  according  to  their  difference 
in  education,  culture,  and  ethical  standards.  ''Honor 
among  thieves,"  is  an  old  saying,  and  it  is  true  in  the 
sense  that  robber  bands  obey  certain  rules,  or  stand- 
ards of  conduct,  in  their  relations  with  each  other. 
Thus  it  is  seen,  that  while  public  opinion  is  one  of 
the  strongest  controlling  factors  in  human  conduct, 
it  is  not,  by  any  means,  always  on  the  side  of  Right. 
Public  opinion  changes  with  the  adoption  of  different 
ethical  standards,  or  ideals.  The  illusory  bauble, 
which  the  world  calls  fame,  consists  in  nothing  more 
substantial  than  public  approbation  and  adulation. 
The  admiration  for  the  strong  is  an  animal  instinct. 
Herds  of  cattle,  flocks  of  sheep,  gregarious  animals 
of  every  kind,  follow  some  strong  member  as  a 
leader.  Men  have  been  no  exception  to  this  rule. 
The  strong  force  themselves  into  positions  of  leader- 
ship, and  public  opinion  is  largely  moulded  by  their 
acts.     In  the  militant  age,  the  strongest  and  bravest 

312 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

warriors  were  the  ideals  of  society ;  in  peaceful,  com- 
mercial countries,  individual  achievement  in  popular 
fields  of  endeavor  becomes  the  ideal.  This  is  proper 
and  needful  as  a  stimulus  to  industry  and  enterprise 
if  the  ethical  standards  are  right  and  the  public 
welfare  is  promoted;  but  if  the  standard  for  achieve- 
ment is  wrong,  society  will  ultimately  suffer  loss  in- 
dividually and  collectively. 

No  people  can  above  ideals  rise. 
The  characters  they  emulate  comprise 
Their  estimate  of  what  improves  the  mind, 
Of  what  exalts,  or  what  degrades  mankind. 
A  people  whose  conceptions  rise  no  higher 
Than  worldly  wealth  and  power,  will  not  aspire 
To  heights  where  selfishness  has  no  control, 
And  patriotic  motives  move  the  soul; 
For  avariciousness  contracts  the  mind. 
And  dwarfs  the  nobler  instincts  of  mankind. 

Since  men  will  have  some  standard  for  achieve- 
ment, some  ideal  around  which  to  mould  their  aspira- 
tions and  direct  their  efforts;  and  since  it  is  neces- 
sary that  they  should  have,  the  adoption  of  a  correct 
standard  is  of  paramount  importance. 

A  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Jacob  was  one  of 
the  first  men  we  read  about  to  set  up  a  commercial 
standard  when  he  set  up  striped  sticks  at  the  water- 
ing-places of  his  father-in-law's  cattle.  The  stand- 
ard which  he  there  erected  has  been  the  ruling  one 
in  commercial  life  ever  since.  The  idea  is  to  get 
rich,  even  if  it  requires  dishonest  cunning  to  com- 
pass that  all-absorbing  aim;  and  society,  instead  of 
reprobating  it  as  vulgar  and  wrong,  has  given  it  en- 
couragement by  the  most  pronounced  approval.     So- 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ciety  has  made  the  individual  acquisition  of  wealth 
the  standard  of  respectabihty,  influence,  and  power. 
The  desirableness  of  riches,  and  the  importance  of 
its  possession,  is  the  first  lesson  taught  to  children — 
a  lesson  which  is  continually  reiterated  during  the  im- 
pressionable years  of  childhood;  and  when  they  grow 
up  to  mature  years,  they  see  that  the  rich  enjoy  com- 
forts and  privileges  which  to  the  poor  are  denied ; 
they  see,  that  while  the  door  of  opportunity  swings 
wide  to  the  rich,  it  opens  to  the  poor  only  after  the 
most  importunate  effort  and  self-denying  sacrifice; 
they  see  the  rich  sitting  in  the  high  places,  and  occu- 
pying the  positions  of  power  and  influence  in  the  na- 
tion ;  they  see  that  the  successful  acquisition  of  wealth 
is  even  made  the  measure  of  men's  abihties,  instead 
of  intellectual  endowment,  scholarship,  and  culture; 
they  see,  that  while  the  hand  of  justice  falls  with 
heavy  weight  upon  the  poor,  it  is  laid  with  apologetic 
softness  upon  the  rich ;  they  see  that  altruistic  princi- 
ples are  discountenanced  and  discredited  in  all  the 
pursuits  of  life;  that  business  men,  professional  men, 
public  officials,  men  in  office  and  out  of  office,  are  all 
striving  for  self-gain;  is  it  then,  any  wonder  that 
they  come  to  regard  the  acquisition  of  wealth  as  the 
chief  good,  and  the  all-essential  thing  for  which  to 
strive?  Is  it,  then,  strange  that  fraud  flourishes  and 
peculation  in  office  continues?  Honor  is  violated  in 
positions  of  sacred  trust.  This  false  standard  of 
wealth  has  corrupted  the  whole  social  body.  Colossal 
individual  fortunes  have  encouraged  a  criminal  extrav- 
agance unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world,  which 
has  injuriously  affected  every  class  of  society,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest.  People  are  everywhere 
trying  to  support  a  style  of  living  beyond  their  means, 
causing  individual  bankruptcies,  and  threatening  na- 
tional disaster. 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Extravagance  has  reached  a  wild  excess 

In  eager  rivalry  to  make  display, 
In  millions  spent  each  year  for  show  and  dress, 

And  millions  more  for  follies  of  the  day. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

GREED — THE    CAUSE    OF    POVERTY,    WRETCHEDNESS    AND 
CRIME 

All  classes  of  citizens  are  living  in  a  constant,  life- 
wearing  strain.  The  smiles  of  contentment  are  dis- 
placed by  the  sordid  lines  of  care.  You  will  not  see 
one  happy  face  in  fifty.  Care  and  worry  is  stamped 
in  the  features  of  almost  every  one  you  meet.  Joy- 
ousness  and  mirth  are  repressed,  and  the  occasional 
laugh  which  you  may  hear,  sounds  hollow,  mirthless, 
and  unusual;  and,  since  children  inherit  their  tem- 
peramental dispositions  from  their  parents — even  the 
little  children,  who  in  their  young  innocence  should 
be  as  happy  as  birds  and  as  playful  as  lambs,  are  far 
less  so  than  they  were  in  our  own  childhood,  and 
their  little  faces  are  sobered  with  the  shadow  of  care. 
Universal  worry  and  unrest,  like  a  dark  cloud,  has 
shut  out  the  light  of  joy ;  the  beauties  of  nature  have 
been  scarred  and  marred;  the  once-fruitful  soil  has 
been  exhausted  and  robbed  of  its  fertility ;  the  once- 
green  hills  have  been  denuded  of  the  grand  old  for- 
ests which  fed  the  waters  of  living  springs,  and  in- 
vited the  rains  in  season;  the  natural  resources  of 
soil,  timber,  and  minerals,  have  been  wasted  and  de- 
pleted ;  the  health-giving  streams  have  been  diverted 
from  their  natural  uses  and  polluted  with  the  death- 
dealing  filth  from  shop  and  mine;  commercialism 
entices  away  from  the  pure  air  and  wholesome  en- 
vironment of  country  life  the  brightest  boys,  and  casts 
them  into  the  maelstrom  of  trade  and  strife  in  the 

3^5 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

cities — all  for  the  sake  of  accumulating  wealth.  Nor 
is  this  yet  the  worst.  The  inordinate  desire  for 
wealth,  and  the  abuses  of  its  possession,  are  responsi- 
ble for  nine-tenths  of  the  crimes  and  suicides  which 
are  committed. 

Recently,  two  men  of  our  city  committed  suicide. 
One,  a  middle-aged  man,  who,  not  many  years  ago, 
was  prominent  in  the  business,  social,  and  political 
life  of  the  city.  He  was  once  a  candidate  for  Mayor, 
and  lacked  only  thirty  votes  of  being  elected.  He 
found  himself  unable  to  raise  a  hundred  dollars  to 
satisfy  a  debt.  Credit  gone,  honor  lost,  he  killed 
himself.  The  other  suicide  was  a  young  man,  who 
some  months  ago  came  here  from  a  town  in  an  ad- 
joining State,  and  secured  employment  in  one  of  our 
local  business  concerns.  In  the  panic  of  last  winter 
and  spring,  1907-8,  he  was  dismissed  from  work,  as 
were  thousands  of  others  who  were  similarly  unfor- 
tunate. He  tarried  in  the  city  for  some  time  after 
his  dismissal,  trying  to  secure  another  position,  till 
his  small  savings  were  all  spent  for  board  and  lodg- 
ing. Rather  than  return  home  penniless,  he  fired  a 
bullet  in  his  brain.  Another  recent  suicide  was  a 
man  about  thirty-five  years  old,  whom  I  had  known 
from  his  boyhood.  I  knew  his  father  and  mother, 
people  in  good  circumstances.  I  knew  his  brothers, 
and  a  sister,  who,  with  him,  were  brought  up  in  a 
contented  and  happy  home.  I  knew  the  sweet  little 
girl  he  married ;  she  was  the  daughter  of  one  of  my 
dearest  personal  friends.  He  was  a  young  man  of 
bright  mind  and  good  character,  and  a  prosperous 
future  was  prophesied  for  him.  He  took  his  girl- 
wife,  and  the  generous  patrimony  which  his  father 
gave  him,  and  went  to  a  Southern  city,  where  he  es- 
tabhshed  a  business.  Everything  went  well  with  him 
for  a  time;  but  finally  reverses  began  to  come,  and 

316 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

in  a  short  while  thereafter,  he  /found  himself  bank- 
rupt. Closing  out  his  business,  Ke  had  left  little  more 
than  enough  to  move  his  family  to  another  Southern 
city,  where  he  tried  to  re-establish  himself  in  business ; 
but  he  could  get  neither  credit  nor  sympathy,  and  at 
length  was  forced  to  try  for  a  situation  in  which  he 
could  work  for  a  salary.  The  best  he  was  able  to 
get  was  a  place  in  a  stinking  fish  market,  that  paid 
him  about  ten  dollars  a  week.  He  had  a  wife  and  six 
children  to  feed  and  clothe;  house-rent,  water-rent, 
and  gas  bills  to  pay;  and  he  found  his  small  salary 
insufficient  to  pay  his  expenses.  When  each  day's 
work  was  finished,  he  went  to  a  cheerless  home, 
tired  and  heart-weary,  to  find  the  most  discouraging 
evidences  of  pressing  want  and  poverty.  He  loved 
his  wife  and  children.  When  his  circumstances  had 
been  prosperous,  it  was  his  delight  to  supply  them 
with  every  comfort;  but  now,  when  his  children  un- 
wittingly begged  for  things  which  he  was  no  longer 
able  to  buy,  and  when  they  asked  him  for  things  that 
they  saw  other  children  were  supplied  with  by  their 
parents — sometimes  articles  of  food,  which  he  was  no 
longer  able  to  give  them — it  broke  his  heart.  So  a 
few  days  ago — a  beautiful  midsummer  day — he  went 
out  into  one  of  the  pubHc  parks,  where  the  flowers 
were  blooming  and  the  birds  were  singing — ^but  not 
for  him.  He  laid  down  on  the  grass  in  the  shade, 
took  from  his  pocket  a  small  flask,  swallowed  two 
ounces  of  carbolic  acid,  and  thirty  minutes  afterward 
he  was  found — dead.  He  left  to  the  uncertain  chari- 
ties of  the  world  a  disconsolate  widow  and  six  help- 
less, orphaned  children.  These  instances  which  I  have 
related  are  similar  in  details  to  hundreds  daily  occur- 
ring in  all  parts  of  our  country.  Mental  aberration 
is  usually  lightly  attributed  as  the  cause.  It  is  doubt- 
less one  of  the  eflfects,  but  it  is  not  the  cause. 

Z^7 


THE   DRAGON^S    TEETH 

Exactly  in  proportion  as  wealth  is  accumulated 
into  the  hands  of  a  few,  it  is  made  increasingly  diffi- 
cult for  the  masses  to  acquire  even  the  ordinary  com- 
forts of  life.  If  our  present  commercial  system  is 
to  be  perpetuated  till  there  will  be  only  two  classes 
of  citizens,  the  very  rich,  composed  of  a  few,  and  the 
very  poor,  composed  of  the  many,  then  popular  edu- 
cation should  cease ;  for  if  the  door  of  Hope  is  to  be 
shut  to  the  poor ;  if  all  opportunities  for  their  indi- 
vidual advancement  are  to  be  denied ;  if  no  promise  is 
to  be  held  out  to  them  or  their  children  except  a  hope- 
less, barren  life  of  unrewarded  toil  and  social  depre- 
dation, it  would  then  be  merciful  to  have  them  as 
ignorant  as  the  horse  or  ox  that  forgets  in  the  coarse 
feed  of  the  stall  the  stings  of  the  cruel  lash;  for 
their  sufferings  would  then  become  calloused  with 
the  indifference  of  ignorance. 

Education  brings  the  knowledge  of  better  things 
and  better  conditions,  and  stimulates  the  desire  and 
the  ambition  to  obtain  them;  but  if  the  selfishness 
and  greed  of  a  few  place  those  things  beyond  the 
reach  of  attainment,  disappointment,  bitterness,  and 
despair  must  result. 

The  selfish  greed  of  the  predatory  rich  has  taken 
thousands  of  women  and  girls  out  of  the  home — ■ 
their  natural  place — and  forced  them  into  the  strug- 
gling, competing  ranks  of  toil,  into  the  office,  the 
factory,  and  the  shop,  which  has  lowered  the  wages 
in  all  lines  of  labor  into  which  they  have  entered, 
making  more  difficult  family  maintenance  by  hus- 
bands and  fathers,  thereby  causing  a  decreasing  num- 
ber of  marriages  and  new  homes,  and  many  of  those 
who  do  marry  now  wait  till  late  in  life,  so  that  the 
size  of  families — where  there  is  any  increase  at  all — 
grows  constantly  smaller,  the  number  of  unmarried 
continually  larger,  the  crime  of  race-suicide  appall- 

318 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

ing,  home  life  is  neglected — tl:e  illy-cared-for  place 
called  home  little  more  than  a  place  to  sleep  after 
each  day  of  wearing  toil — children  suffer  for  lack  of 
attention  and  home-comforts,  home-enjoyments,  and 
home-training,  and  many  are  growing  up  diseased  in 
body  and  mind,  moral  and  physical  deformity  being 
the  inevitable  result. 

Another  matter,  the  mere  thought  of  which  makes 
us  shudder  with  horror  and  indignation,  we  would 
gladly  pass  over  without  mention;  but  fidelity  to  our 
task  requires  that  we  bring  the  horrible  fact  before 
the  reader,  and  that  is,  that  many  poor  girls — 'besides 
the  influences  of  unwholesome  surroundings — are 
almost  compelled  by  hunger  and  want  to  sell  their 
bodies  to  pay  for  food  and  shelter. 

We  are  aware  that  this  is  a  serious  charge  to  make, 
but  it  is  a  matter  which  we  have  investigated.  The 
following  story  was  related  to  us  by  a  very  reputable 
gentleman,  whose  sister-in-law  worked  in  a  large  de- 
partment store.  The  employees  in  the  store  were 
mostly  girls  who  were  paid  from  $2.50  to  $5  per 
week,  $2.50  being  the  wages  paid  to  the  larger  num- 
ber. Any  one  knows  that  with  the  present  high  cost 
of  living,  two  and  one-half  dollars  a  week  will  barely 
support  their  bodies  with  the  commonest  and  cheapest 
of  food.  Where,  then,  is  the  money  to  pay  for  high 
rentals  and  clothing  to  come  from? 

The  story,  as  he  related  it,  is  as  follows: 

One  of  the  sales  girls  in  this  store  was  a  young, 
pretty  girl,  who  was  trying  by  her  labor  to  support 
herself,  and  to  assist  her  widowed  mother  in  the  sup- 
port of  a  younger  brother  and  sister. 

While  the  mother  kept  able  to  work  with  her 
needle,  the  combined  earnings  of  herself  and  daugh- 
ter meagerly  sufficed  for  the  little  family;  but,  by 
and  by,  the  patient  mother,  confined  in  the  house  con- 

319 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

tinually  to  an  unremitting  grind  of  toil,  kept  in  from 
the  life-giving  sunlight,  and  pure  air,  denied  all  sym- 
pathy and  encouragement  which  is  the  elixir  of  life, 
became  ill.  Then  it  was  that  the  daughter  discovered 
that  her  own  small  salary  would  not  meet  their  most 
necessary  expenses.  Food  to  buy  for  four,  house- 
rent  to  pay,  gas  bills  to  meet,  medicine  and  doctor's 
fees  for  her  sick  mother,  and  only  $2.50  a  week  to 
pay  it  all. 

The  girl,  after  ten  hours'  work  in  the  store,  had 
to  walk  unattended  in  the  late  evening  five  blocks  to 
her  squalid  home,  clean  it  up  the  best  she  could,  and 
then  prepare  their  frugal  meal.  During  the  nights 
her  rest  was  broken  by  attentions  and  ministrations 
to  her  sick  mother  and  little  brother  and  sister.  When 
the  restless  hours  of  the  night  wore  by,  she  must 
needs  rise  at  five  o'clock  in  order  to  have  time  to 
prepare  breakfast,  and  leave  her  mother  as  comfort- 
able as  possible  for  the  day,  and  hurry  to  the  store 
by  7 :30  a.  m.,  to  begin  the  day's  exacting  labors.  At 
the  same  time  she  was  expected  to  appear  neat  in  her 
attire,  and  to  wear  a  smile  and  a  cheerful  countenance 
for  the  benefit  of  customers.  It  was  during  this  try- 
ing time  that  the  girl,  with  a  body  tired  and  worn, 
and  a  heart  aching  with  grief  for  the  mother  she  loved, 
timidily  approached  her  employer,  made  him  acquain- 
ted with  the  condition  of  her  family,  and  asked 
him  for  a  small  raise  in  salary.  He  replied  that 
he  could  not  afford  to  pay  her  any  more  for  the  rea- 
son that  he  could  get  plenty  of  other  girls  for  the 
same  salary  he  was  paying  her;  then  putting  on  a 
diabolical  smile  and  smirk  he  said,  "Have  you  got  any 
feller?"  A  blush  of  shame  mantled  her  cheeks,  and 
she  turned  away.  With  another  of  his  devilish 
smirks  and  smiles,  he  advised  her  "to  get  a  feller  to 

320 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

help  her  pay  expenses."    Oh,  my  God !     It  is  such  as 
tliis  that  makes  a  skeptic  ask,  "Is  there  a  God?" 

That  same  proprietor  is  looked  up  to  as  one  of 
the  wealthy,  model  citizens  of  the  city.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  so  many  poor  girls  take  to  the  streets, 
and  follow  lives  of  open  shame  till  the  fires  of  pas- 
sion destroy,  or  they  find  a  speedier  exit  by  suicide? 
When  you  pass  one  wearing  the  scarlet  sign,  spurn 
her,  if  you  will;  but  do  not  forget  the  influences 
that  might  have  led  her  astray. 

I  am  not  writing  for  popular  applause;  but  to  tell 
the  plain  facts  as  I  see  them.  I  know  that  many  may 
condemn  me  for  what  I  have  written — and  shall  yet 
write,  if  I  have  strength  to  complete  my  self-ap- 
pointed task — but  I  have  so  long  witnessed  the  tri- 
umph of  Wrong  over  Right,  that  I  am  impelled  to 
raise  a  warning  cry.  It  is  not  so  much  the  fault  of 
individuals,  as  the  system.  A  few  men  have  grown 
rich  by  working  women,  girls  and  children  in  stores, 
shops,  and  factories  at  starvation  wages,  and  some 
have  exploited  that  wealth  in  million-dollar  hotels 
and  costly  buildings,  for  which  they  have  been  ac- 
claimed public  benefactors. 

Public  spirit  is  all  right  if  it  is  of  the  right  kind. 
The  right  kind  of  a  public  spirit  looks  after  the  wel- 
fare of  the  individual  citizen. 

This  thing  of  spending  millions  in  hotels  and  "sky- 
scrapers" is  not  only  silly,  it  is  criminal. 

The  poorly  paid  laborers  who  earn  the  money  that 
builds  the  million-dollar  hotels  will  never  be  able  to 
patronize  them.  They  are  for  the  wealthy  tourists 
alone.  Decent  accommodations  for  the  traveling  pub- 
lic are  demanded  by  civilized  society;  but  extrava- 
gance and  display  are  not. 

Every  million  dollars  put  into  a  hotel  or  a  "sky- 
scraper" would  build  a  thousand  comfortable  homes 

321 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

for  the  poor;  and  it  is  almost  safe  to  say  that  every 
milHon  dollars  foolishly  expended  in  costly  and  un- 
necessary buildings  means  a  thousand  hovels. 

But  society  approves  these  things  as  worthy 
achievements,  and  for  that  very  reason  they  are  con- 
tinued. The  individual  exploiters  of  great  wealth 
are  not  so  much  to  blame  as  the  society  which  gives 
them  encouragement. 

Every  intelligent  person  recognizes  the  fact  that 
home-owning,  and  home-building  is  the  very  founda- 
tion and  pillar  of  the  State,  and  yet  a  system  is  fos- 
tered and  encouraged  which  tends  to  make  such  im- 
possible.* 

As  long  as  society  approves  the  things  it  should 
reprobate,  the  evils  of  greed,  poverty,  crime,  disease, 
and  misery  will  continue. 

Our  social  standards  are  all  wrong. 

The  commercial  standard,  as  represented  in  the 
striped  stick  of  Jacob,  has  cursed  mankind  for  six 
thousand  years,  and  has  constituted  an  insurmount- 
able barrier  to  the  ethical  development  of  human 
conduct. 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  ONLY  TRUE  STANDARD  OF  CONDUCT 

There  was  another  Man,  "If  it  be  lawful  to  call 
Him  a  man,"  who  set  up  the  Right  Standard ;  but  till 
now,  only  a  few  have  been  governed  by  it  in  their 
conduct.  He  set  up  the  Eternal  Principle  of  Right, 
and  placed  on  each  of  its  four  sides  a  like  number  of 
everlasting  mottoes,  the  first  of  which  is:  "Fear  God, 
and  keep  His  commandments";  the  second  is,  "Love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself";  the  third  is,  "Do  unto  oth- 
ers  as  you   would   have  others   do    unto  you";  the 

*  Only  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  homes  in  this  country  are  owned  by 
the  occupants,  eighty-five  per  cent,  are  rented. 

322 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

fourth  and  last  is,  "He  who  would  be  the  greatest 
among-  you,  let  him  become  the  servant  of  all."  Hu- 
man life  will  not  be  complete;  human  conduct  will 
not  be  perfect,  and  Wrong  will  continue  until  all 
men  live  up  to  this  standard. 

We  promised  in  the  beginning  that  we  would  avoid 
political  and  religious  discussion ;  but  you  will  pardon 
us  for  a  little  digression,  if  such  you  wish  to  term  it, 
while  we  briefly  consider  the  mottoes  on  the  only 
True  Standard  of  Life. 

In  the  first  motto,  "Fear  God,  and  keep  His  com- 
mandments," the  word  from  which  fear  is  here  trans- 
lated, was  intended  to  be  more  expressive  of  love 
and  reverence.  Before  we  can  have  reverence  and 
love  for  a  person,  we  must  have  a  knowledge  of  that 
person;  and  before  we  can  have  that  due  reverence 
and  love  for  the  Deity  which  we  should  have,  we 
must  come  to  know  Him  in  His  creatures  and  in  His 
works.  A  pure  abstract  conception  of  Deity,  and  of 
our  relations  to  Him,  requires  the  highest  reach  and 
powers  of  the  human  intellect.  A  knowledge  of  God 
is  the  cornerstone  in  the  Temple  of  Truth,  and 
without  that  knowledge,  it  is  impossible  to  have  a  true 
conception  of  what  is  Right.  W^hatever  is  Right, 
and  true,  and  good,  is  from  God.  His  command- 
ments are  everywhere  written  in  all  His  works. 
Whether  the  commandment  to  do  Right  be  found  in 
His  Church,  in  the  Bible,  or  in  the  book  of  Nature, 
it  is  the  commandment  of  God,  and  we  should  obey. 
The  Laws  of  Nature  are  the  Laws  of  God,  and  no- 
where are  they  more  indelibly  written  than  in  the 
Book  of  Nature,  where  we  can  always  make  trans- 
lations from  the  original  text.  In  obeying  the  lav/s 
of  nature,  we  keep  the  commandments  of  God.  This 
does  not  mean  that  perverted  desires  and  appetites 
belong  to  the  laws  of  nature ;  for  the  laws  of  nature, 

323 


'    THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

when  correctly  interpreted,  condemn  those  things ; 
but  whatever  conduces  to  health,  and  life,  and  happi- 
ness, to  truth,  honor,  and  justice,  is  in  concord  with 
the  laws  of  nature,  the  laws  of  God.  Care  of  self 
and  of  offspring  is  the  first  obligation  of  nature,  and 
must  be  Right.  The  care  of  our  own  health  and  in- 
dividual well-being,  and  that  of  our  children,  is  the 
first  obligation  which  nature  imposes,  and  cannot  be 
neglected  without  causing  self -in  jury,  injury  to  pos- 
terity, and  detriment  to  the  community ;  for  society 
is  composed  of  individual  units,  and  injury  to  one, 
means  the  logical  injury  of  all ;  but  self-interest,  pur- 
sued according  to  the  standard  of  Right,  not  only 
does  not  interfere  with  the  self-interest  of  others, 
it  becomes  instead  a  potent  means  of  its  promotion, 
as  it  adds  that  much  to  the  sum  of  human  well-being. 
If  an  individual  weakens  his  own  powers,  physical 
or  mental,  by  the  neglect  or  violation  of  nature's  laws 
affecting  his  self-interest,  he  not  only  suffers  loss  in- 
dividually, his  ability  to  help  others  is  diminished  or 
destroyed,  and  that  much  is  subtracted  from  the  sum 
of  human  well-being.  There  are  ample  means  in 
nature  to  secure  the  well-being  and  happiness  of  every 
individual,  if  rightly  used ;  and  that  those  means  are 
not  thus  employed,  is  due  to  the  violation  of  God's 
commandments  written  in  His  works  and  in  the 
very  necessities  of  our  being. 

The  second  motto  on  The  True  Standard  of  Life 
is,  "Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  When  rightly 
understood,  this  is  not  so  difficult  as  it  at  first  ap- 
pears, and  it  is  entirely  consistent  with  a  righteous 
self-interest.  To  understand  it,  you  need  first  to 
carefully  analyze  the  question  of  how  well  you  love 
yourself ;  or,  rather,  how  well  you  ought  to  love  your- 
self, and  you  will  then  discover  that  the  supposed 
obstacles    in   the    way    were   mostly    imaginary.      In 

324 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

illustration,  you  desire  for  yourself  good  health,  and 
everything  that  goes  to  maintain  the  same — pure  air 
and  sunshine,  pure  water,  wholesome  food,  recrea- 
tion, and  a  happy  and  contented  mind;  is  it  difficult 
to  desire  the  same  things  for  your  neighbor?  If  you 
love  your  neighbor  as  you  do  yourself,  you  would  not 
shut  him  up  in  a  dark  mine  or  sweatshop  all  the  day 
from  the  pure  air  and  the  beautiful  sunlight;  you 
would  not  befoul  the  stream  from  which  he  must 
drink;  you  would  not  give  him  unwholesome,  adul- 
terated food  for  the  sake  of  profit;  you  would  not 
have  him  wear  his  health  and  life  away  by  hope- 
less, incessant,  ill-rewarded  toil;  but  you  would  have 
him  to  take  needed  rest  and  recreation,  and  to  enjoy 
every  needful  comfort  of  life.  You  desire  long  life. 
Life  is  precious  to  you,  and  to  every  one.  If  you 
love  your  neighbor  as  yourself,  you  will  do  nothing 
to  shorten  his  life,  or  to  render  it  unhappy;  the 
thought  of  murder  will  never  enter  your  mind,  and 
your  own  life  will  be  sweeter  and  happier.  You,  in 
your  self-love,  desire  all  the  necessities  and  comforts 
of  food,  and  shelter,  and  clothing,  and  the  things 
necessary  to  your  individual  happiness;  desire  the 
same  things  for  your  neighbor,  and  do  nothing  to  de- 
prive him  of  them.  When  you  can  in  truth  wish 
your  neighbor  every  good  thing  which  you  desire  for 
yourself,  you  will  be  fulfilling  the  requirement  of  the 
second  motto. 

The  third  motto  on  The  True  Standard  of  Life, 
"Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  others  do  unto 
you,"  is  a  restatement  of  the  second  in  a  reversed  re- 
lation. You  have  a  good  position,  or  profitable  em- 
ployment, or  an  honest  income,  by  which  you  support 
yourself  and  family  in  comfort;  would  you  have  oth- 
ers, because  they  had  the  power  to  do  so,  or  because 
selfish  advantage  would  accrue  to  them,  take  away 

325 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

from  you  that  means  of  support?  If  not,  do  not 
yourself  take  away  from  others  their  means  of  an 
honest  livehhood.  You  have  opportunities  for  ma- 
terial and  social  advancement,  whereby  you  hope  to 
better  the  condition  of  yourself  and  family;  would 
you  have  others  through  selfishness,  or  greed,  or 
covetousness,  or  any  other  unworthy  motive,  de- 
prive you  of  those  cherished  opportunities?  If  not, 
do  not,  for  any  reason,  deny  them  to  others. 

You  have,  what  is  the  best  earthly  possession  of 
man,  a  pleasant,  happy  home  of  your  own.  You 
have  turfed  the  lawn  with  grass,  and  planted  in  it 
choice  flowers,  ever-green  shrubbery,  and  beautiful 
trees  to  make  abundant  shade ;  you  have  clean,  grav- 
eled walks;  painted  and  embellished  the  house;  in- 
side the  house,  you  have  decorated  the  walls  with 
pictures  and  mural  works  of  art ;  placed  soft  carpets 
upon  the  floors;  provided  each  room  with  necessary 
and  attractive  furniture;  stored  your  library  with 
good  books — everything  essential  to  household  com- 
fort— a  good  wife  to  keep  the  home  in  order,  and 
give  to  you  her  sweet  companionship ;  and  happy 
children  to  make  home  cheerful  and  bright.  It  is 
home  to  you,  where  you  can  go  after  the  toil  of  the 
day,  and  find  joy  and  rest  in  its  peaceful  seclusion ;  it 
is  home  to  the  wife  and  mother,  and  in  it,  and  the 
dear  ones  it  shelters,  are  centered  all  her  hopes  and 
joys;  her  flowers,  which  she  waters  and  tends  with 
her  own  hands,  speak  to  her  messages  of  love;  the 
laughter  of  happy  children,  the  songs  of  birds,  are 
to  her  the  sweetest  music;  the  household  labors  do 
not  fatigue,  because  to  her  they  are  the  labors  of 
love;  the  husband  and  father  is  her  king;  she,  her- 
self, is  the  happy  queen  of  the  home,  and  her  chil- 
dren are  her  priceless  jewels ;  it  is  home  to  the  chil- 
dren, for  in  it  are  father  and  mother ;  in  it  are  the 

326 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

toys  and  books  for  childish  amusement  eloquent  with 
birthday  and  holiday  memories;  in  it  are  the  dear 
loving  associations  of  brothers  and  sisters  and 
friends;  in  it  are  a  thousand  happy  recollections  to 
which  their  minds  will  fondly  turn  in  all  the  after 
years ;  it  is  home  to  the  family ;  if  a  member  strays 
away  into  the  outer  world,  his  dearest  consolation  is 
that  he  can  go  back  home.  It  is  your  home.  It  be- 
longs to  you.  No  unjust  or  cruel  landlord  can  evict 
you  for  non-payment  of  rent,  and  cast  your  wife  and 
children  forth  homeless  into  an  inhospitable  world 
less  friendly  than  the  pitiless  winds  of  winter;  nor 
can  the  tax-gatherer  sell  it  from  over  their  heads  for 
taxes.  Home!  How  dear  is  the  word!  There  is 
only  one  dearer  word  than  Home,  and  that  is  Mother. 
What  would  you  not  do  to  protect  and  to  care  for 
that  home !  Would  you  have  others  to  make  it  im- 
possible for  you  to  own  such  a  home?  Would  you 
have  others  to  destroy  the  opportunities  that  make  it 
possible  for  your  children  to  own  such  a  home? 
Would  you  have  yourself,  your  wife,  and  your  chil- 
dren made  homeless  vagrants?  If  not,  help  to  make 
conditions  such  that  every  one  may  own  a  happy 
home,  which  would  be  the  greatest  service  you  could 
perform  for  the  State  and  posterity. 

The  quiet  home  is  the  center  of  the  restless  activi- 
ties of  the  world.  Whatever  of  strife  and  confusion 
in  commercial  or  political  engagements,  there  should 
be  peace  and  quiet  in  the  home.  Strong  men  have  a 
zest  for  the  conflicts  of  strength,  intelligence,  and 
skill  in  the  industrial  activities  of  life,  but  their  homes 
are  places  for  rest,  to  give  them  needed  respite  from 
toil  and  care.  The  warrior  on  the  battlefield  may 
find  delight  in  the  clang  of  murderous  steel  and  the 
thunderous  roar  of  deadly  artillery ;  but  he  wants  only 
music  and  flowers  in  his  lady's  bower. 

Z^7 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

The  love  of  home  is  the  fountain  source  of  patri- 
otism and  all  the  social  virtues;  it  is  the  energizing 
force  which  moves  the  mighty  enginry  of  human 
effort  and  progress ;  it  is  the  inspiration  of  good  gov- 
ernment, the  foundation  and  safety  of  the  State,  the 
security  of  religion  and  virtue. 

Not  many  years  ago,  as  compared  with  the  historic 
annals  of  time,  our  forefathers  fled  the  oppression  of 
the  old  countries,  braved  the  unknown  perils  of  a 
pathless  ocean,  and  pitched  their  tents  in  a  savage 
wilderness — all  that  they  might  own  a  home  in  which 
to  dwell  unmolested.  Land  was  to  be  had  without 
money;  but  still  the  homes  had  to  be  wrested  from 
a  wild  wilderness  inhabited  by  savage  beasts  and  still 
more  savage  men,  at  a  fearful  sacrifice  of  toil  and 
deprivation — often  of  life  itself — yet  they  were  happy, 
because  they  were  building  homes  for  themselves 
and  their  children.  The  common  aspiration  of  par- 
ents to  provide  homes  for  their  children,  and  to  sur- 
round them  with  better  conditions,  gave  them  en- 
couragement to  pursue  their  arduous  labors  and  self- 
denials.  The  forests  gave  back  before  the  sturdy 
strokes  of  strong  arms  and  stout  hearts,  and  cabin 
homes  were  built  as  the  outposts  of  a  civilization 
which  was  to  follow.  There  was  happiness  in  those 
homes  because  hope  was  there,  and  because  the  op- 
pressor, that  old  dragon,  had  been  left  behind  in  the 
old  world. 

The  natural  difficulties  to  acquiring  a  home  then, 
though  great,  were  small  in  comparison  with  the  un- 
natural obstacles  which  have  now  to  be  overcome. 
Homes  now,  if  acquired  at  all  by  the  poor,  have  to 
be  wrested  from  the  iron-grasp  of  greed  at  a  fearful 
cost  of  labor  and  self-denial.  We  have  known  some 
in  the  purchase  of  homes  to  press  their  children  into 
toil  at  young  and  tender  ages,  denying  them  any  edu- 

328 


THE    DRAGON'S    TEETH 

cation,  and  depriving  them  of  the  common  comforts 
of  Hfe.  A  prominent  writer,  recently  writing  on 
this  subject,  advised  against  the  purchase  of  homes 
by  the  poor,  having  in  mind  their  awful  cost;  and 
he  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  homes,  when  paid 
for,  were  not  worth  the  sacrifice  demanded  to  own 
them.  Instead  of  attacking  the  conditions  which  are 
making  home-owning  impossible,  he  advises  the  poor 
to  hve  in  rented  houses,  and  to  cease  making  any 
effort  to  own  them. 

When  Freedom  found  a  home  in  this  fair  land, 
And  held  aloft  her  banner  to  the  world, 

None  thought  to  see  it  grasped  by  evil  hand, 
Nor  ever  stained,  nor  in  dishonor  furled. 

Community  of  interests  made  strong 

The  bonds  of  social  union  and  of  State; 

They  had  a  love  of  Right,  a  hate  of  Wrong, 
The  elements  which  make  a  nation  great. 

Good  health  and  plenty  recompensed  all  toil ; 

The  harvests  ripened  'neath  a  smiling  sky; 
Content  to  till  the  new  and  generous  soil. 

Their  wants  were  simple,  easy  to  supply. 

No  noisy  clamor  of  commercial  sway 

Disturbed  their  valleys,  or  their  peaceful  dreams ; 
Nor  smoke  of  furnace  rose  to  cloud  the  day, 

Nor  factory  to  foul  the  limpid  streams. 

A  dewy  freshness  in  the  field  and  grove. 

And  in  each  opening  flower  and  budding  tree; 

The  cultivated  grain  like  magic  throve, 
The  rivers  still  ran  crystal  to  the  sea. 

329 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

The  birds  on  joyous  wings,  the  trees  among, 
Were  safe  embowered  in  primeval  woods; 

They  made  the  summer  days  more  glad  with  song, 
And  nesting,  unmolested,  reared  their  broods. 

And  man  was  not  less  happy  in  that  time 

Which  gave  the  world  the  noblest  of  his  race ; 

Youth  then  was  lengthened  into  healthy  prime. 
And  robust  age  retained  a  youthful  grace. 

A  love  of  home  that  formed  the  people's  weal, 
And  Liberty,  inspired  to  noble  strife, 

And  set  their  hearts  aflame  with  patriot  zeal ; 
The  same  gave  birth  to  this  great  nation's  life. 

A  love  of  country,  home,  and  fellowmen. 

Which  formed  our  nation  would  it  still  preserve ; 

The  old  ideals  would  revive  again, 

And  Freedom's  institutions  yet  conserve. 


This  continent,  which  circling  oceans  bound — 

The    white    man's     home,    the     red-man's    hunting 

ground — 
Was  formed  by  nature,  wonderful  and  grand; 
In  Cyclopean  furnaces,  the  fires 
That  trenched  the  valleys,  cast  the  mountain  spires ; 
The  Architect  who  drew  the  mighty  plan, 
Himself,  a  temple  built — a  home  for  man; 
The  amethystine  skies,  the  fretted  dome, 
That,  opal-tinted,  vaults  this  temple-home; 
Sequestered  valleys,  carpeted  in  green, 
The  aisles;  their  streams,  like  bands  of  silver  sheen; 
The  mountain  walls  are  damasked  with  the  Dawn 
Where  Evening's  golden  draperies  are  drawn, 
Or,  Morning's  russet  manthng  chases  Night, 
And  floods  the  wooded  halls  with  radiant  light. 

330 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

Four  centuries  of  time  have  rolled  away 

Since  that  eventful,  long-past  autumn  day 

The  daring  Genoese  made  royal  claim 

To  this  New  World,  and  gave  his  name  to  Fame. 

A  wilderness  of  wide  extent  it  spread, 

Inviting  entrance,  but  provoking  dread; 

By  wild  things  habited,  and  by  men 

No  less  untamed  than  forest  denizen; 

Primeval  forests  of  interminable  extent 

Spread  wide,  beneath  whose  shades  there  came  and 

went 
At  will  the  lordly  buck  and  timid  doe ; 
O'er  broad  savannas  roamed  the  buffalo; 
Surpassing  beautiful  the  sylvan  scenes,  ^ 

With  nature  unrestrained  in  all  her  miens ; 
The  virgin  soil  untilled  as  yet  by  man; 
The  rivers  to  the  sea  unmuddied  ran ; 
No  sound  the  wooded  silences  awoke 
Except  the  simple  notes  which  nature  spoke. 

The  wilderness  is  changed  to  open  fields, 
Whose  cultivated  soil  rich  harvests  yields; 
Where  browse  domestic  animals,  the  deer 
Fed  unmolested  with  no  thought  of  fear; 
Productive  farms  and  homes  now  dot  the  plain, 
And  growing  corn,  and  fields  of  waving  grain; 
Great  cities,  pulsing  with  their  fevered  life. 
Where  wigwams  stood,  filled  with  commercial  strife; 
Through  teaming  valleys,  rich  with  harvests,  run 
The  arteries  of  trade  from  sun  to  sun, 
Transporting  products  now  by  steam  and  rail 
Where,   undirected,   ran  the  Indian  trail. 

Of  Saxon  strength  and  Celtic   enterprise, 
A  mighty  race  the  dual  traits  comprise, 
Who  built  a  nation  on  the  righteous  plan 

331 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

Of  Liberty  and  Equal  Rights  to  man, 

Where  genius  the  highest  honors  draws; 

Where  men,  self-ruled,  obey  not  kings,  but  laws. 

The  wild,  ungoverned  forces,  which  all  nature  fill, 

At  last  are  tamed,  and  made  to  do  man's  will; 

The  wands  of  science  wind  and  sea  enthrall ; 

The  lightning,  in  the  storm-cloud,  heard  man's  call 

To  be  his  messenger  on  wings  of  light, 

Or  slave  to  pull  his  car — or  change  the  night 

To  artificial  day — or  yet  to  be 

The  force  which  turns  the  wheels  of  industry. 

But  sad  it  is  that  ofttimes  men  decay 

Where  opulence  and  luxury  bear  sway. 

A  country's  wealth  is  measured  not,  nor  sold; 

Its  manhood  is  its  riches,  not  its  gold. 

Your  home  is  no  longer  in  danger  from  wild  beast 
or  painted  savage.  You  no  longer  need  the  earthen 
walls  of  the  ancient  Saxons,  nor  the  stone  battle- 
ments of  the  Normans  to  protect  your  home  from 
the  noise  and  dangers  of  the  battle  and  the  chase. 
Trailing  vines  and  blooming  flowers  in  unfenced 
yards  is  all  the  protection  your  peaceful  pursuits  re- 
quire; yet,  there  is  an  unseen,  insidious  foe  to  your 
home,  making  slow,  but  sure  and  merciless  aggres- 
sions under  the  false  title  of  "Vested  rights" — its  real 
name  is  monopoly. 

"Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  others  do 
unto  you." 

You  would  not  be  restricted  in  your  individual 
rights  or  matters  of  conscience ;  then  show  to  others 
the  same  tolerance  that  you  would  have  them  extend 
to  you.  You  would  not  have  others  in  their  swinish 
greed  appropriate  to  themselves  the  fruits  of  your 
labor,  and  condemn  your  children  to  the  slavery  of 
hopeless  toil;  then  stand  for  Justice  and  Right  in  the 

332 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

dealings  and  relations  of  men,  that  labor  may  receive 
its  due  reward,  and  that  the  aggressions  of  preda- 
ceous  oppression  may  be  restrained. 

If  you  should  be  sick,  or  in  trouble,  you  would 
want  others  to  come  to  you  with  sympathy,  relief, 
and  encouragement ;  then  visit  the  sick,  and  those  who 
are  in  trouble,  and  do  what  you  can  to  ameliorate 
their  suffering  and  sorrow.  If  you  should  be  pressed 
with  a  heavy  burden  of  debt,  and  out  of  employ- 
ment, you  would  like  for  others  to  give  you  work, 
so  that  you  could  pay  your  indebtedness,  save  your 
credit,  your  honor,  and  your  self-respect;  then  assist 
others,  similarly  situated,  to  secure  some  remunera- 
tive occupation — remembering  that  the  best  form  of 
charity  is,  where  possible,  to  put  the  unfortunate  per- 
son in  a  position  to  help  himself,  and  then  give  him 
sympathy  and  encouragement,  which  will  strengthen 
his  character  and  manhood,  and  save  his  self-respect ; 
he  then  becomes  again  a  contributing  factor  to  the 
general  welfare  of  society,  while  alms  would  lower 
his  self-respect  and  his  manhood,  and  make  him  a 
confirmed  mendicant  and  a  charge  on  society. 

You  would  like  for  others  to  cooperate  with  you  in 
things  that  would  better  your  circumstances;  then 
cooperate  with  them  in  labors  directed  to  the  im- 
provement of  their  individual  and  general  welfare; 
for  whatever  improves  the  conditions  of  living  in 
general,  ameliorates  the  circumstances  of  the  individ- 
ual units  of  which  society  is  composed. 

If  you  would  have  others  honest,  be  honest  your- 
self; if  you  would  have  others  truthful,  speak  the 
truth  yourself,  and  never  deceive;  if  you  would  have 
others  magnanimous,  show  magnanimity  toward 
them ;  if  you  would  have  others  to  be  generous,  set 
an  example  of  unselfish  generosity;  if  you  would 
have  others  to  be  virtuous  minded  and  pure,  so  that 

333 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

your  wife  and  daughters  might  everywhere  and  any- 
where be  safe  from  insult  or  injury,  then  exemplify 
in  the  purity  of  your  own  life  the  beauty  and  desir- 
ableness of  virtuous  conduct. 

"Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  others  do  unto 
you."  "The  Golden  Rule."  The  one  law,  which,  if 
universally  obeyed,  there  would  be  for  any  other  no 
need. 

The  fourth,  and  last,  motto  on  The  True  Standard 
of  Life  is,  "He  who  would  become  greatest  among 
you,  let  him  become  the  servant  of  all." 

This  last  of  the  mottoes  is  of  supreme  importance 
in  the  future  evolution  of  social  ethics. 

Emulation  is  essential  to  progress,  as  it  is  one  of 
the  mainsprings  of  human  endeavor.  Without  a 
spirit  of  emulation,  there  would  be  little  enterprise ; 
and  men  would  fall  short  of  the  attainment  of  the 
culture  of  higher  education;  they  would  be  satisfied 
with  mediocre  conditions,  and  the  great  natural  re- 
sources, the  bountiful  endowment  to  man  by  his  Crea- 
tor for  his  sustenance  and  comfort,  would  remain  im- 
perfectly developed.  The  desire  to  excell  seems  to  be 
naturally  implanted  in  man's  being,  and  is  necessary 
to  his  progress  and  happiness.  The  trouble  has  been 
that  because  of  false  standards,  emulation  has  been 
pursued  along  wrong  lines,  for  which  society  is  to 
blame,  and  on  account  of  which  it  has  suffered  irre- 
parable loss.  The  ambitious  seek  after  fame,  which 
is  nothing  but  the  plaudits  of  men.  Hitherto,  the 
personal  achievements  of  a  few  men  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  great  wealth  and  power,  and  its  exploitation 
for  their  personal  aggrandizement,  with  little  or  no 
reference  to  the  Common  Good,  has  received  society's 
loudest  acclaim  when  it  should  have  been  given  its 
most  positive  reprobation.  Thinlg  you,  if  society 
would  reprobate  as  vulgar  and  mean  the  acquisition 

334 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

and  personal  exploitation  of  great  wealth,  that  there 
would  be  the  temptation  to  it  which  now  exists?  No. 
Society  is  responsible  for  keeping  up  this  false  stand- 
ard of  wealth,  and  for  the  bitter  strife  with  all  its 
evil  concomitants — envyings,  animosities,  covetous- 
ness  and  greed,  which  has  filled  the  earth  with  sor- 
row, and  drenched  it  in  blood. 

The  aggressions  of  the  strong  upon  the  weak,  of 
the  rich  upon  the  poor,  has  rendered  the  condition  of 
life  almost  intolerable.  Insatiate  greed  and  lust  for 
gain  knows  no  mercy,  and  tramples  under  its  feet 
the  weak  and  poor  without  compunction.  Not  satis- 
fied with  appropriating  to  itself  the  fruit  of  others' 
toil,  it  defaces  the  once  beautiful  face  of  nature  by 
polluting  the  streams,  denuding  the  hills  of  their  for- 
ests, robbing  the  mines  of  their  treasures,  and  ex- 
hausting the  soil  of  its  fertility;  yet  society  has 
looked  on  and  applauded.  If  society  would  reprobate 
these  things  as  base  and  vulgar,  and  encourage  in- 
stead emulation  in  the  public  service  for  the  benefit 
of  all  mankind,  these  wrongs  and  follies  would  cease. 
We  need  to  predicate  popular  approval  alone  on  un- 
selfish public  Service. 

"He  who  would  be  greatest  among  you,  let  him 
become  the  servant  of  all." 

Fourth  of  July  orators,  and  political  speakers,  laud 
our  Government  and  its  free  institutions,  and  boast 
of  this  country  being  "The  land  of  the  free  and  the 
home  of  the  brave,"  when  the  truth  of  the  matter  is, 
instead  of  being  "The  land  of  the  free,"  it  is  cursed 
with  the  slavery  of  toil — the  worst  form  of  vassalage 
known  to  history ;  and  instead  of  being  the  "home  of 
the  brave,"  the  great  majority  of  the  people  have  no 
homes ;  and  the  conditions  are  already  such  that  most 
of  them  never  can  have  homes  of  their  own. 

We  boast  of  being  a  great  peace  nation.     One  of 

335 


THE   DRAGON'S   TEETH 

our  citizens,  distinguished  only  for  his  enormous 
wealth,  has  builded  in  the  capital  of  Holland  a  beau- 
tiful and^  costly  temple  dedicated  to  international 
peace;  this,  while  in  our  own  country,  the  deadliest 
war  of  all  history  is  going  on  every  day.  Statistics 
show  that  over  one  hundred  thousand  meet  violent 
deaths,  and  over  one  million  are  injured  every  year. 
Add  to  this  number,  forty  thousand  suicides ;  one  hun- 
dred thousand  made  insane ;  five  hundred  thousand  in- 
carcerated in  our  prisons  for  crimes ;  and  five  million 
more  who  die  premature  deaths  superinduced  by 
overwork,  worry,  hunger,  and  want;  to  say  nothing 
of  race  suicide,  which  would  add  still  other  millions, 
make  the  startling  total  of  six  million  eight  hundred 
thousand,  one  year's  death-roll  from  insatiate  greed 
in  our  own  beloved  country  alone.  Surely  this  fear- 
ful condition  cannot  always  continue!  Yet,  centuries 
of  similar  conditions  have  so  impressed  and  imbued 
the  minds  of  the  people  with  the  commercial  system 
of  greed,  that  they  have  come  to  regard  it  as  natural 
and  necessary.  The  rich  are  regarded  by  the  poor 
as  the  specially  favored  of  Providence,  in  like  man- 
ner, as  they  once  accorded  to  kings  the  Divine  right 
to  rule.  The  poor  believe,  that  somehow,  they  are 
placed  under  Divine  displeasure,  and  that  their  pov- 
erty is  the  will  of  God.  They  have  been  taught  to 
believe  this  monstrous  travesty  on  God's  justice,  and 
to  sing  in  their  hopeless  misery, 

"I  would  not  live  alway,  I  ask  not  to  stay 
Where  storm  after  storm  rises  dark  o'er  the  way." 

People  cast  themselves  before  the  Juggernaut  of 
Greed,  and  acclaim  the  power  that  crushes  them  in 
the  dust.  If  one,  influenced  by  love  of  his  kind,  has 
the  temerity  to  protest  against  it,  he  is  at  once  de- 

336 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

nominated  either  a  scheming  demagogue,  a  visionary 
fool,  or  a  dangerous  character.  It  will  be  many 
years — it  may  be  centuries — before  greed  will  give 
place  to  benevolence,  strife  to  cooperation  and  help- 
fulness, self-seeking  and  self-aggrandizement  to  pub- 
lic service;  but  we  have  faith  to  believe,  that  in  the 
slow  evolution  of  social  ethics,  that  good  time  will 
come. 

Public  sentiment  is  corrupted,  and  kept  so,  by  sub- 
sidized interests.  Those  in  possession  of  wealth  dis- 
honestly acquired,  and  those  who  have  attained  to 
political  power  through  fraud  for  the  purpose  of 
graft,  realize  the  danger  to  them  of  a  truly  enlight- 
ened public  sentiment,  therefore  they  subsidize  the 
Press,  and  public  sources  of  information,  in  order 
to  keep  the  people  blinded. 

Mankind's  best  Friend  was  crucified;  and  the  true 
reformers  in  every  age  and  country  have  suffered  a 
very  similar  fate.  The  mob  continues  to  crucify  a 
Jesus,  and  to  release  a  Barabbus.  And  yet,  after  all, 
men,  when  free  from  passion  and  ignorance,  are  not 
as  corrupt  in  heart  as  this  would  indicate.  Remove 
the  ablepsy  of  ignorance,  and  the  sentiment  of  most 
people  will  be  found  on  the  side  of  right.  Many 
who  have  better  knowledge,  and  whose  sympathies 
are  enlisted  for  man's  ethical  advancement  and  social 
betterment,  remain  passive  and  inactive  because  of 
the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  giving  effective  assistance 
or  public  expression  to  their  views. 

An  enlightened  public  opinion  must  be  relied  upon 
to  secure  any  reform,  but  public  opinion  cannot  be 
active  and  effective  without  organization.  Organiza- 
tion cannot  be  effected  without  leadership.  We, 
however,  will  not  be  discouraged.  Right  will  ulti- 
mately triumph.  Ethical  evolution  will  some  time  be 
completed;  and  when  it  is,  the  factors  which  have 

337 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

been  employed  in  it  will  cease  to  exist,  because  their 
work  will  be  consummated. 

When  a  grain  of  corn  is  planted,  warmth  and  mois- 
ture cause  the  life-germ  in  it  to  germinate;  as  soon 
as  the  stalk  puts  out  roots  so  it  can  draw  its  suste- 
nance from  the  soil,  and  leaves  to  drink  in  the  car- 
bon from  the  air,  the  grain  is  totally  absorbed  in  the 
growing  plant.  A  butterfly,  issuing  from  its  crysalis, 
casts  off  the  old  dead,  and  now  useless  shell,  in  which 
it  was  confined.  These  transmutations  in  nature  per- 
fectly illustrate  the  evolution  in  social  ethics.  Right 
is  an  eternal,  living  principle,  and  when  it  shall  be 
fully  evolved  in  human  conduct,  to  do  Right,  and  to 
reprobate  Wrong,  will  be  instinctive  and  natural;  the 
promotion  of  the  interests  of  society  will  insure  the 
highest  degree  of  self-interest;  public  service  will  be- 
come the  playground  of  ambition,  and  will  engage  the 
surplus  energies  and  abilities  of  the  strongest  men, 
and  the  love  and  gratitude  of  mankind  will  constitute 
their  just  meed  of  fame;  the  Deity  will  be  regarded, 
as  what  He  is,  "A  God  of  Love" ;  love  will  take  the 
place  of  fear,  ''For  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear"; 
every  man  will  look  up  to  God  as  his  Father,  and  on 
his  fellowmen  as  his  brothers.  The  family  idea  of 
government  will  then  be  complete.  In  the  family, 
the  strongest  cheerfully  bear  the  heavier  burdens  of 
toil,  while  the  weaker  members  are  given  the  kindest 
attention,  and  the  most  considerate  care;  so  will  it 
some  time  be  in  government;  the  weakest  members 
of  society  will  be  cared  for  by  their  stronger  brothers. 
Aggression,  oppression,  and  strife  will  cease;  the 
widow  and  the  orphan  will  no  longer  be  homeless 
and  hungry;  the  sick,  and  the  unfortunate,  will  not 
lack  for  attention  and  care;  and  the  stronger  mem- 
bers of  society  will  cheerfully  bear  the  heavier  bur- 
dens.    Then  the  waste  places  of  the  earth  will  be 

338 


THE   DRAGON'S    TEETH 

restored;  the  gullied  hills  will  be  reforested,  and  the 
soil  of  the  valleys,  renewed  to  virgin  fertility,  will 
teem  with  bounteous  abundance;  the  natural  re- 
sources of  the  earth,  necessary  to  the  support,  com- 
fort, and  happiness  of  mankind,  will  be  conserved 
and  preserved;  miserable,  squalid,  unhealthful  hovels 
will  give  place  to  comfortable,  clean,  healthful  homes ; 
helpfulness  to  others  will  be  as  instinctive  as  catching 
a  falling  child,  and  every  one  will  do  Right  because 
it  is  Right.  Right  will  then  be  ascendant,  and 
Wrong  will  have  only  negative  existence.  Wrong  is 
unnatural — an  ugly  deformity — and  when  mankind 
shall  be  released  from  the  false  conditions  which  gave 
it  birth,  they  will  hate  it,  and  cast  it  out  of  their  lives. 
Right  is  natural  and  beautiful.  As  men  come  more 
in  harmony  with  the  natural  and  the  true,  they  will 
love  the  Right,  and  become  conscious  of  its  sublime 
loveliness.  Right  conduct  is  the  only  natural  con- 
duct, and  Right  actions  constitute  the  only  real  pleas- 
ures in  life.  Stimulated  by  the  influence  of  right  liv- 
ing, individual  lives,  will  take  on  the  beauteous 
adornments  of  virtue.  Released  from  the  temptation 
of  avarice  and  greed,  there  will  neither  be  oppressed 
nor  oppressor.  Cooperation  for  the  advancement  of 
mutual  interests  will  become  a  delight  and  a  duty; 
the  true  ideals  of  life  will  blossom,  in  beauty,  and 
bear  the  rich  fruitage  of  real  and  aesthetic  joys; 
hope,  like  iridescent  light,  will  sparkle  in  the  dewy 
freshness  of  perfect  life,  and  Hke  the  "Bow  of  Prom- 
ise,'* span  with  brightness  life's  darkest  cloud. 


THE  END. 


339 


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